Dorm Dilemma
by bitemeplease235
Summary: All Human. What happens when Bella goes off to college to find that she has to share a dorm with a guy? And that guy happens to be Edward Cullen? And she finds a deep attraction instantly? Hmmm...
1. Hello, Beautiful

**All human, but same situation with Bella, Renee, and Charlie. Bella moved to Forks her junior year and has lived there for two years. She never really talked to Jacob, she never went out with anyone, and has decided to go to college at some random university in New York City (why? b/c I love NY!). Edward, Alice, and Emmett are adopted siblings, and the couples are the same as they were in the book. Bon Appétit!**

"Bye Dad. I love you." I mumbled into Charlie's raincoat. I was heading off to the big apple to go to college, and my dad was seeing me off.

"Love you too, Bells. Have fun at college. Don't party too hard, k?" he choked out, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were red and rimmed with tears. Charlie was still coming to grips with the fact that his little girl was all grown up and moving out.

"_Flight 213 to New York City is now boarding."_ A filmy voice played through the airport.

"Dad, that's my flight. I gotta go." I said as I disentangled myself from the awkward embrace. Neither of us was good with emotions, which made the goodbye even harder.

"Bye Bella. Love you. " He said sadly as I walked off with my tote bag.

My tote was my only carry on, and held my iPod, the cell phone Charlie got me so that I would call him every once in a while, my battered copy of The Complete Works of Jane Austen, and my wallet. All of my boxes had been shipped straight to my new dorm room. I set my bag down on the floor, sat down in the seat, and got ready for a long ride.

The flight actually wasn't that bad. The seats were comfortable, and there were no obnoxious spoiled four year olds to kick the back of my seat. Before I knew it, we were landing in New York and I was standing on the rainy street hailing a taxi.

As we sped off through the streets of New York, I couldn't help but let the excitement fill me up. You could feel the energy of the city, so the rain wasn't gloomy like in Forks. The people all rushed by, oblivious to my growing delight.

"We're here." The driver said sullenly. I threw him the money I owed him and slid out of the car.

I just stood there for a moment, soaking in the feel of the city and getting drenched in the process. When I decided that I was good and wet, I made my way into the lobby of the college to get my room assignment. I stumbled over to the counter of the main desk, trying not to trip.

"Umm, excuse me. I need my dorm information, please." I said quietly, blushing when the woman openly gawked at my disheveled and soggy appearance. I'm sure I looked awful in my dripping plain old jeans and blouse, but I had always been a fan of simple things.

"AWWW!" whined a blonde girl as she stomped past. "Why couldn't I have been in Section 3? Then I would have been rooming with some hot guy instead of you!"

The brunette she was pointing at looked offended, and I could hear their bickering as they made their way to their own dorms.

Apparently, the woman was done gawking and decided to acknowledge my existence.

"Oh, right. Well, I'm Mrs. Cope, and I'll be filling in this next week for Angela, the girl who usually works here. Now, what was your name?" She asked as she opened an application on the computer.

"Isabella Swan?" I said, talking almost as if I was asking a question.

"Well, Miss Swan, it appears we have a problem. You were set to be in Section 3, but some construction went awry and that section will be out of commission for about a year." She explained briskly.

She must have noticed my horrified expression, because she quickly continued.

"Now, we're not turning you out on the streets, Miss Swan, there's no need to have a cow. You'll now be rooming with a Mr. Edward Cullen in Section 7, just above this office." She finished hastily.

I barely had time to digest her words with the speed she was explaining and almost missed her saying that I would be rooming with a MR. Edward Cullen over the sound of her dilapidated old printer, but I heard it.

"I'll be rooming with WHO? A guy? No, no, no, no, no. You see, I can't room with a guy. My father would kill me! Plus I'm really not-"I attempted to ask, but she cut me off.

"I'm sorry Miss Swan, but I'm afraid that unless you would like to leave this college and your full ride scholarship, you're stuck." She grimly informed me as she handed me the printout of my dorm assignment.

"I…but…erm…ok. Thanks?" I replied, confused.

"Just come and see me if you have any problems." She said as she waved me off and brought her attention to the now smoking printer behind her.

On my walk across the hall to get to the elevators, I made up my mind. No matter what, I would be friends with whomever I was sharing my dorm with. I didn't care how disgusting he was, or how scary, or how much he reminded me of the ever-persistent Mike Newton, we would be friends and nothing more. Only friends. I had finally reached the decision that we would be JUST friends when I got into the elevator when I glanced down at my sheet. CULLEN, EDWARD flashed up at me from the paper, almost as if it was mocking me. I was so utterly lost in my thoughts that I almost didn't notice the foot coming between the door and someone asking me to hold it.

I finally snapped out of it and pushed the button that opened the doors. I was instantly met with a pair of long legs and a box.

"Thanks. I didn't even want to try and make it up the stairs with this thing." Said a kind male voice. It sounded beautiful, like a chorus of bells, and very attractive too. Part of me wondered why I was thinking these things about a total stranger, while another part wanted to rip the box away to see who it was. All of me was scolding myself and reminding me of my promise. After all, what if the first guy I was truly attracted to happened to be off limits?

"No problem." I managed to say. I blushed as I realized that I was still soaking wet and was dripping. Lucky for me, the doors swished open at this point, and I stumbled out of the elevator.

I left the elevator man in my quest to find my room, and was delighted to find it only a few feet from the elevators. As I dug through my pocket to find the key Mrs. Cope had given me, someone bumped into me from behind.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't see anyone there," apologized the voice behind the box. I almost dropped my key for the second time when I recognized the voice. It was the guy from the elevator! I was mentally freaking out when I heard him go on.

"I was just moving the last of my stuff into my dorm before my roommate got here." He explained.

"Oh, you're fine." I said as he pulled a key out of his pocket with a flourish and stuck it in the door. How he managed to hold the heavy box at the same time with one hand is beyond me. But that was soon dismissed as I realized that he was walking into dorm 62C. That was the same number on my paper and key.

"Um, am I in the right place? My name's Bella Swan, and I was told that this was my dorm…" I trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, surprise evident in his melodious voice. "Well then, I guess you're my new roomie."

He set his box down and turned around. When I saw his face, I almost fainted. He was achingly beautiful. I would ordinarily say that handsome is a more fitting description for the male species, but his looks were almost blindingly perfect. I noticed his wiry build, but saw that what looked wiry was actually muscle. He looked like a Greek god, and as his eyes met mine, I thought that I might melt. They were the most beautiful color green I had ever seen. He began to speak, interrupting my ogling.

"My name's Edward Cullen," he said kindly as he extended his hand for me to shake.

"I'm Isabella Swan, but most people call me Bella." I explained, still not able to break free from his smoldering gaze.

Oh snap.


	2. Soggy Introductions

**So, I figured that since I have had no disclaimer on either of my stories, (I am also working on Sickie. Check it out!), I should add one. Also, check my AN at the end. It's important!**

**Disclaimer: About three things I am sure:**

**I am completely and totally obsessed with both the Twilight series and this fantabulous website.**

**Coconut is absolutely disgusting, as is caramel. Also, combining the two does not make them taste any better.**

**I am not a brunette, I am not married, I do not have 3 young boys, and I do not have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. In other words, I am not the amazingly talented Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the especially wonderful Twilight.**

**Bon Appétit!**

I could tell that Edward was about to say something. Maybe he would've asked why I was blushing. Maybe he would politely tell me to stop staring at him. Maybe he would tell me about his gorgeous, smart, wonderful girlfriend. Too bad I'll never know.

BOOM!

A resounding crash came from the door. It sounded almost like someone had tried to break it down by running into it, but I couldn't be sure. I looked at Edward with widened, shocked eyes. His face mirrored mine, only his was ten times more fantastic looking.

"EDWARD!" a tiny voice complained. "I've been trying to open this door for the past five minutes! You think that you would give your own sister a key!"

He mouthed an apology as he squeezed past me to open the door.

"Sorry Alice, just trying to keep out the crazies. Guess I mistook you for one." He said sarcastically as he unlocked the door. As soon as it clicked, a tiny pixie-like girl threw her body at the door and forced it open.

"I swear to God Edward, if I have to I will repeat the Slumber Party Disaster of 2004." She announced angrily as she marched into the room, dragging a tall, quiet blonde boy. A tall, painfully beautiful blonde girl followed after, with a muscular, curly haired boy brought up the rear.

Edward shuddered in response to her threat and followed meekly through the hall to the bedroom where I had relocated to. As they all filed in, I became aware of my sopping wet attire. I crossed my arms self-consciously and sat down on one of my boxes. Edward had already set my boxes on one side of the room, and his on the other. My mattress sat next to the wall on one side and his side identically on the other side.

As the pixie girl was muttering angrily under her breath, she noticed me and gasped.

"Edward, who's this?" she asked, looking back and forth from me to him, a smile growing on her face with each repetition.

"This is my new roommate, Bella. She's one of the ones who got moved out of C." he explained.

"Damn!" the muscular one cried. "Why do I get stuck with Newton and you get this hot Bella chick?!"

The blonde girl smacked him on the back of his head, hard. You could hear it echo through the room in between Emmett's cursing. I was too busy blushing to do anything besides sitting there lamely.

"Anyway," the pixie girl said. "My name's Alice, and this is my boyfriend Jasper. I was in C too, but luckily, I got to move in with Jazzy here." She explained happily as she pointed to Jasper. He smiled politely, and I shyly returned the smile.

"Edward's my adopted brother, just like Emmett. You'll have to excuse him, he doesn't think much." She said as she swatted at Emmett's burly arm.

"And this here is Rosalie, Emmett's girlfriend. She wasn't lucky enough to get picked to move in with Emmett, but she's rooming with a girl named Angela. She's pretty nice." She gestured to the blonde, who smiled warmly at me.

"Well, I think I've introduced everyone. What about you?" she finished kindly.

"Well, my name's Isabella, but everyone calls me Bella…" I trailed off self-consciously at her scrupulous stare.

"What're you wearing?" Alice asked, as if it was the most important thing in the world to her at that moment.

"Um, it's raining outside, so I'm a little wet." I nervously explained. What if I had done something to upset the first normal group of people I'd met at this college?

"No, I mean besides the fact that you're soaking wet. Why would you wear something so un-fashionable? You're so pretty!" she exclaimed like it was incredibly obvious.

"You'll have to excuse Alice. She's a bit fashion obsessed. It's nothing against you. The first time she met me, she asked why I wasn't wearing shoes that matched my shirt." Rosalie while the others snickered at Alice's horrified expression.

"Shut up Rosalie." She murmured in a monotone voice. It was like she was in a trance.

"Bella, we are going shopping later. There is no we should. We WILL go shopping later, understood?" she informed me seriously as she grabbed my arm and pulled me up to a standing position, twirling me around slowly as she examined my outfit.

"Umm…ok?" I nervously answered. It seemed to break her out of her trance, and she dropped my arm to hug me, squealing like we were in high school again.

"I can tell we're going to be good friends!" she exclaimed happily. Realizing my dampness at the same time, we pulled away from each other.

"Sorry about Alice, Bella. You'll learn soon how no one can rein her in." Jasper apologized as he pulled her away from me.

"We were gonna help move Edward in, but now I can help with your wardrobe too Bella!" Alice announced the true reason for the spontaneous visit.

"Why don't you go and get changed into some comfortable clothes," Rosalie suggested kindly, eyeing Alice as she was about to interrupt. "We'll just hang out here till you get out."

"Thanks." I simply said, getting up to find a box with clothes in it. Luckily, I saw the one I wanted immediately. Unfortunately, I had to go through Edward to get it. I awkwardly slid past him and ripped open the box. I had grabbed the first pair of sweats I saw and almost made it to the little bathroom when I tripped over a box.

I prepared to hit the floor, and so was shocked when I felt a pair of string arms around my waist. However, the surprising part was the electric shock that coursed through my body at the touch, even through my wet clothes. Wide-eyed, I looked up at my savior, to see a pair of twinkling green eyes staring back at me. The shock that I felt was reflected in them.

"Thanks," I told him breathlessly as I righted myself. "I guess I forgot to mention that I'm incredibly clumsy."

"We can see." Alice giggled as she shoved me in the bathroom.

Oh yeah. It's gonna be an interesting year.


	3. Boxes and Newton

**Hello, beautiful people who have decided to read my story!! Thanks so much for doing just that and remember that if someone would send me the name of a good story, I could start suggesting them!! **

As I emerged from the bathroom in my cozy, dry sweats, I was immediately met by Alice's furious glare. Before she could say anything, Rosalie stepped on her foot, reminding her to behave. She frowned, but said nothing.

"Let's do this thing!" Emmett declared boisterously as he reached for one of Edward's boxes. The next time I looked at the clock, it was 3 hours later. We were nearly done, and I felt like I had known them for years instead of hours. Emmett was strongly against the fact that we planned to go to a chick flick this Saturday, while he wanted to go to some other dumb kung-fu thing.

"Aww, come ON!" Emmett exclaimed. "Jasper, you can't be serious! You would really rather go and see some dumb chick flick than that new action movie that just came out!"

"If Alice is there, I'll be there." Jasper said softly as he stared deep into Alice's eyes. Rose and I looked at each other and aww-ed. Edward simply looked the other way, trying to avoid seeing his sister make-out with one of his best friends.

"Whipped." Emmett muttered angrily as he walked past, earning a slap on the head from Rosalie.

I was getting ready to shove the last of my stuff under the bed when someone knocked on the door. Emmett bounded over the boxes and to the door before anyone else could even move. I figured that the sooner I got moved in, the sooner we could relax and grab some dinner. I bent down and started shoving the boxes under the bed. The first one filled with my books fit, but the next one was stuck. Rather than re-pack the stuff in it to get it to fit, I just pushed harder, shoving with all my might. Edward realized my plight and came over to help me.

"We push on three. One… two…three!" he instructed with a smile on his face.

Just as we bent down, I heard a whistle from the doorway. I shot up immediately and whirled around, my face beet red. Edward got up slowly, with an angry look on his face. I tried to ignore the fact that his hand brushed mine as he got up, and the electric current that ran through me at his simple touch.

Emmett was shoving a blonde guy through the door with a murderous look on his face.

"Newton." Edward said through his teeth to the blonde guy.

"H-h-hey, Edward." the guy stuttered, managing with some difficulty to speak. Obviously this boy noticed how angry Edward was.

"Umm, Bella? This is Mike Newton. We all went to high school, and now he and Emmett are rooming together." Alice chirped nervously.

"Bella, hmm? What's say you and me go out tonight? Or if you want, we could just…stay in… if you catch my drift." Mike said, flashing his yellowed teeth at me and waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I was so flustered that I don't think I could have told you my name, and Alice and Rosalie were too disgusted to do anything either. Luckily, Emmett was still behind him and looked as if he was about to kick him out, when I saw Edward raise his arm slightly, as if to stop Emmett. Edward was standing next to me, so I couldn't see most of what he mouthed to Emmett, other than the words _Plan X_. Whatever it was, I saw Emmett grin mischievously. Alice and Rosalie all visibly loosened up. Jasper simply smiled and stood up straighter, almost as if he were getting ready to play a part.

The next thing I knew, Edward was sliding his arm protectively around my waist. He took a step forward, as if to shield me. And if I weren't surprised enough already, what he said next could have possibly caused my mouth to permanently unhinge itself.

"Newton, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop whistling at my girlfriend. That's rude. I'd also love it if you would refrain from attempting to flirt with her, because I'd like to keep down my lunch." He growled menacingly through his teeth as he glared at Mike.

"Maybe she'd like to go out with me instead of you, right babe?" he leered at me. Even behind his player façade, I could tell he was terrified of Edward.

"Do you want me to kick your ass?" Edward hissed angrily.

"Whoa Edward, chill out! You remember last time? Man, they had to take that poor kid to the hospital! The doctors are still trying to figure out where his leg is…" Jasper reminded Edward with wide eyes. He was such a good actor that I would have believed him, had I not seen the smile threatening to break across his face.

"He's right man. We don't want you to have to go back to court again." Emmett said seriously. He wasn't as good an actor and the smile almost took over his face.

"You're right. I should try and control my anger. Bella love, do you want to leave me for this guy? I have to give you a fair chance if you want to leave." He said mournfully as he looked down at me through his eyelashes. His eyes coaxed me to play along, but I wasn't sure. I had never been a good actor.

"But I don't want to go. I want you, not Mike. Sorry." I said as I pulled myself closer in to Edward, ignoring the strong urge I had to kiss him. Apparently, I acted well enough, because Mike got a defeated look in his eye.

"Do you have to be so sexy? Geez Bella, you really make a man wish he were gay." Mike said, rejection plain on his face.

"Love, could you please show Mike the door?" Edward asked politely, gripping my waist tighter. I had a feeling that he knew we wouldn't be able to make it much longer without bursting out in laughter. I couldn't look at anyone else for fear of blowing my cover.

"Don't worry about it brother. I'll show him out." Emmett said with a gleam in his eye as he shoved Mike out the door, 'accidently' stepping on his foot on the way out. Mike's eyes filled with tears and he grimaced in pain, but said nothing as he left.

As soon as he was gone, we all burst into laughter. Alice, Rose, and I all fell onto my bed while the boys high-fived each other.

"Oh my god, did you see his face when you said girlfriend?" Alice giggled.

"I thought he was gonna pee his pants when I talked about his leg." Jasper cackled.

"I think that was the funniest thing I have ever seen!" Emmett laughed energetically.

Every time that one of us would try and calm don enough to say anything normal, Edward would imitate Mike's face when he mentioned court, and that got us all going again.

Finally, we had all calmed down enough that Emmett could bring up the idea of takeout. We all agreed that Emmett and Rosalie should go and get Chinese and Alice and Jasper should go and get some ice-cream while Edward and I finished up with the last of the boxes.

"Sorry if that made you uncomfortable, Bella, but I got the feeling that if I didn't do something, no one would." Edward said as he helped push that stubborn box into place.

"No, it was fine. I'm just glad that you guys knew what to do. How did you know what to do?" I asked suspiciously as I plopped down on my bed.

"Why don't I let Emmett tell you that story?" he said with an impish grin on his face.

Something told me I really didn't want to know.


	4. Plan X

**Marvelous people of fanfiction, welcome to chapter four of Dorm Dilemma. I might get a little boring in this chapter; I was story-telling in my other story too. Forgive me and I promise I'll add some nice and juicy d-r-a-m-a into the next chapter. Kay?**

"BEDWARD?! ELLA?!" Emmett's voice boomed through the small dorm room.

"Speak of the devil…" Edward muttered under his breath.

"…and he shall arrive bearing Chinese with obnoxious nicknames." I finished for him as I got up to help Emmett and Rosalie with the food.

"Like my new name for the roomies?" Emmett grinned cheekily as I grabbed a bag from him. I swatted his arm as I ushered him in the door, Rosalie following.

"Erm, Rose? Do you want to borrow some sweats? And maybe a ponytail holder?" I asked hesitantly. Rosalie staggered in, looking like a drowned rat. The most beautiful person I had ever met, besides my new roommate…wait. _BAD BELLA!! THOU SHALT NOT THINK SUCH THINGS ABOUT THOU ROOMATE!!_ I was in the middle of mentally scolding myself when Rosalie spoke.

"That'd be great. He wouldn't get out of the damn car because of the damn rain. Men." She muttered angrily as she staggered into the bathroom. I tossed her a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt and she shut the door.

Alice and Jasper strolled in later, Jasper playfully shaking his wet hair at Alice. She squealed and danced out of the way, hitting his arm teasingly. I don't know why, but I felt envious. I wanted that. I wanted someone to love, someone who loves me, someone who needs me just as much as I needed them. _Yeah right._ I thought to myself._ You're dreaming again Bella._

Edward grabbed the bag full of ice-cream out of my hands, ignoring my protests.

"I am perfectly capable of carrying-" I was in the middle of defending myself when I tripped over Emmett's foot and went flying. Expecting pain and a whole lot of Chinese to clean up, I was surprised when for the second time that day a pair of strong arms caught me. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest at his simple touch, and I shook my head as I righted myself. _Get a grip, Bella. He's just your amazingly wonderfully perfect guy who is 100 percent off limits. Fan-flippin-tastic._

"Told you so." He reminded me smugly, his grin dominating his face. "That's twice today I've had to catch you."

"This wasn't my fault. Mr. Scared-of-Rain over here decided that he would test the gravity around here." I said angrily as I pointed at said man.

"Whoa now. Let's not point fingers…"Emmett said slowly, dropping off when all four of us pointed our fingers at him. Rosalie chose this moment to walk out the door and burst out laughing.

"I leave you alone for five minutes and you get yourself into trouble. What am I going to do with you?" she giggled.

"Kiss me?" he asked hopefully, an innocent expression plastered across his face.

"Nope. That's your punishment. No kisses, or hugs, or any physical contact for the rest of the night." She declared with an evil look in her eyes.

"WHAT?" he cried, panic plain on his face. "Rosie baby, you can't do this to me!"

"Can and will. You need to learn to behave." She scolded sternly.

We finally calmed down enough to grab our boxes of takeout. I was sitting with my leg crossed on my bed with Rosalie, who was laying down on her stomach and snickering at Emmett's pathetic look. He was sitting with Edward on Edward's bed, both of them leaning against the wall. Edward was trying 

desperately not to laugh at his brother, and was barely succeeding. Jasper was sitting on the floor, leaning up against Edward's bed. Alice was sitting on his lap sharing his food.

"So Emmett," I asked as I picked at my food. "Might I ask what Plan X is?"

"I'm happy you asked Bella." He answered, setting his takeout box down next to him. He truly did look relieved at a distraction from his punishment.

"Well, one day, Edward, Alice, and I were meeting Jasper at a coffee house near our high school. On our way there we passed these two guys who were leering at Alice. I couldn't just let that slide. So, I slung my arm around her shoulder and flexed at the guys. They ran the other way." He said, clearly reminiscing.

"Well, that's not that funny. Why wouldn't you tell me Edward?" I asked, eyeing him. He was shaking with silent laughter.

"Oh, he's not done," was all he managed to get out before succumbing to the laughter.

"When we got to the coffee house, we had completely forgotten about the guys. We just sat down and got lost in our own little world. Well, I had my arm around Rosalie and Alice was sitting on Jasper's lap, when Edward gets this bug-eyed look. I turned around to see what he was looking at, and who do I see? None other than the two guys who checking out Alice." Emmett chuckled, lost in another time.

"So the one guys like, 'Dude, weren't you with that other hot chick?' Jasper and Rosalie had no idea what was going on, but Edward and Alice did. Man, I thought Ed was gonna pee his pants, he was laughing so hard. Unfortunately, the guy noticed too and was like, 'What's your problem, man?' Seeing a way out, I took another route. 'Don't mess with him man, he's got issues. He just got back from jail.' The two guys got a little freaked out. The first guy goes, 'What'd he do?' I was just winging it, so I had no idea what little Eddie had done. So I thought on my feet. 'He got all crazy cause these two guys were messing with his girlfriend.' I said. The two guys looked at Edward, who was gripping his sides from laughing, and ran the other direction." He told, his booming laughter filling the room.

For a while I couldn't even speak, I was laughing so hard. We were all hyper from the takeout and ice-cream, and by the time we all calmed down, it was 10:30.

"Well, I'm beat." Jasper declared as he got up and stretched out his legs. "C'mon Alice."

"Bye Bella, Edward." She yawned as she staggered out of the room, one arm around Jasper's waist.

"We're off too. Bye Ella and Bedward." Emmett saluted us on our way out, pausing as Rosalie said her goodbyes. We heard the two of them bickering all the way down the hall about his punishment.

"I'll clean up the mess if you want to get ready for bed." Edward offered kindly as he swept a plastic cup in the trash.

"What a gentleman. Thanks." I said as I made my way into the bathroom. I stumbled out ten minutes later, catching my toe on the edge of the door.

"Gosh dangit!" I cried as I held my injured foot and hopped over to my bed.

"You really are clumsy, aren't you?" he asked, as he walked towards the bathroom.

"You have no idea." I answered wryly.

Thirty minutes later, I was fast asleep. I woke up at three-thirty in the morning for some odd reason, and realized that the light by my bed was still on. I blearily opened my eyes to turn it off, when I momentarily looked over towards Edward.

Big mistake.

He slept shirtless.

**Oooooh! What's going to happen now? I will try to update soon, but I can't make any promises.**


	5. Meghan Mornings

**Short Author's Note. In fact, if you're not MeghanCullen, ignore this. MeghanCullen, didja notice the dipstick reference I made in the other story? And I made good on my promise this chapter. Hope y'all like it!**

I nearly hyperventilated right the and there. Edward Cullen, the most beautiful, attractive man I'd ever seen in my entire existence was laying asleep without a shirt on. I had never been the type to swoon over a guy before, but I almost lost it. Until reality caught up with me and I realized that such a beautiful creature could never be meant for me. Dejected, I snapped the light off and went to sleep.

I was in the middle of the most beautiful dream. Edward and I were sitting somewhere, covered in feathers for some inexplicable reason, and were laughing hysterically. I was trying to pick the feathers off of my jeans when he told me that I looked beautiful no matter what. He leaned in to kiss me, and that's when I heard it.

**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**

"Mupmh." I mumbled as I rolled over. I was determined to not wake-up for another hour or two, seeing as there weren't any classes until next week.

"Five more minutes." I heard Edward grumble as he shifted.

Apparently whoever was knocking couldn't read minds, because they continued on.

**KNOCKKNCOKKNOCK!! KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK!! KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK!!**

I decided to get up and see who it was. I blearily shuffled to the door, and ran smack into Edward. Or, I should say, I ran smack into Edward's bare chest. Too bad I was too sleepy to really notice. I mumbled an apology as we trudged to the door.

"Hello." I mumbled crossly.

"Oh my goodness, did I wake you and your girlfriend up?" A peppy red-head squealed.

"Morning." Edward muttered. Apparently, neither of us were morning people. He didn't seem to realize that she had insinuated that we were together. I was too tired to care.

"What time is it?" I slurred, practically drunk off of the sleep deprivation.

"Why, it's 5:30, silly goose!" she all but screamed as she bounced in place. "My name's Meghan and I just came to invite all the eligible bachelors of this school to a mixer Friday. But I see you're together."

The thought seemed to make her slightly more depressed. Her pep was less crazed-teenager and more hyperactive-college girl.

"What?" Edward muttered, seeming to wake up.

"I said," she repeated louder, getting a slightly angry look on her face. "That I was inviting all the boys to mixer. But seeing as you have a girlfriend, you can't come."

"Hmm?" I asked. I normally wouldn't be so tired, but I was up at like three in the morning.

"ARRGH!" Meghan screamed in frustration. "YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND CAN HAVE A NICE LIFE! GOODBYE!" And with that she stormed off down the hall. I saw through my blurry eyes that she met up with some other girls at the end of the hall. I heard her screech that the hot one was taken, and they all turned the corner and left.

"What boyfriend?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"I think she meant…me." Edward answered, sounding just as shocked as I was.

"You?" I repeated, utterly lost. How could anyone think that this gorgeous man could ever want to be with me? The only way that would happen would be if he was a jerk and just wanted some…

"Oh god, she thinks we slept together." I groaned as I gestured to our sleep attire. This was not what I needed at five in the morning. A cup of coffee, maybe. But a whole heap of drama? No thanks.

"Crap. With that girl, the news will be spread across campus before 10!" he cursed as he hit his head n the wall repeatedly.

"I'm too tired to deal with this right now. I'll think about it in an hour." I mumbled as I shrugged past him and fell into bed. I heard him crash after he slammed the door shut. Apparently, no one around here liked to sleep, because at 6, I heard someone open the door loudly.

"EDWARD ANTHONY CULLEN AND ISABELLA MARIE SWAN!! WHO WANTS TO EXPLAIN WHY A CERTAIN MEGHAN SMITH CAUGHT YOU TWO SLEEPING TOGETHER?" a very angry pixie yelled as she stormed into the room. I opened my eyes and saw Jasper stumble in after her, chugging what looked like a cup of coffee. Lucky duck. This was the second time I was rudely awakened and I didn't get any caffeine. Rose and Emmett strolled in a few seconds later. Well, Emmett drug Rosalie in, who looked like she wanted another six hours of sleep. Emmett was just as awake as Alice, eager to see his brother and the new little target get into trouble.

"Morning Alice." I yawned angrily as I sat up.

"Alice, I hate you." Edward growled as he sat up. "This is the second time I've been up in the past thirty minutes."

"Well, I think that I deserved to know whether or not my brother and my new best friend were sleeping together. That might be a little awkward, don't you think?" she asked, clearly not aware of the fact that we were both shooting death glares at her.

"Alice, nothing happened. Edward and I stumbled to the door at 5:30, found Meghan there who assumed the worst since Edward wasn't wearing a shirt and I was in baggy sweats, and here we are." I repeated the story without any emotion as I got up and stole Jaspers coffee. I growled at Jasper when he got mad at me for stealing his coffee, ignoring the inner voice I had that caffeine didn't agree with me.

"Bella, did you just _growl_ at him?" Emmett laughed in disbelief. I ignored him too, crawling into bed and taking another sip of the coffee.

"God Edward, would it kill you to wear a shirt?" Rosalie said angrily. "Alice, nothing happened. I'm going back to bed." Rosalie tried to leave, but Emmett wouldn't get out of her way. She got frustrated and finally just plopped down onto the bed next to me.

"Can I have a pillow?" she asked nonchalantly, as if she did this everyday. I handed her one and closed my eyes.

"GUYS! You can't go to sleep! We have to-"

But Alice never got to finish. Without the aid of his coffee, Jasper was too tired, and he stole a pillow from Edward and crashed on the floor. I opened my eyes for a second to see Alice huff exasperatedly and shove Emmett into a chair as she sat down.

"If I so much as hear anyone _think_ about waking us up for the next hour, I will bite you." Edward threatened us angrily.

What a morning.


	6. Poker

**I'm disappointed in all of you so called Twilight fans. Only one of you caught my feathers reference to Breaking Dawn!! Anywho, I'll probably create scenarios in all of my human stories for quotes like the ones in all four books to appear. If you're dying to see any specific ones, let me know and I'll try to work them in. Oh, and everyone in this story is human, I was just trying to be funny with the whole growling and bite me thing. I'd just like to thank my lovely reviewers, one of whom said this was the best human story they'd ever read. sniff You're gonna make me cry. Thanks so much!! Peace out, cub scouts.**

"Crap." I vaguely heard Emmett swear. I was snuggled into my warm comforter, ignoring Rosalie's hair that tickled my neck.

"BBBEEELLLLAAAAA! WAKEY-WAKEY!" I heard a spilt second later. The next thing I knew, someone was sitting on my stomach and cutting off all my air.

"Emm…gasp…ett….can't…..BREATHE…wheeze!" I choked out, regretting it instantly as I soon found that was the last of my air. All of a sudden, I heard Edward curse loudly and heard something hit the wall. A second later, Emmett was on the round and I could breathe again. I gasped the sweet air, ignoring the chaos around me. When I looked around, I saw a broken fly-swatter lying on the ground, a scattered deck of cards, and a very disgruntled looking Emmett. Edward was standing up, pinching the bridge of his nose and glaring at Emmett and Alice, who was hiding behind Jasper's tall form leaning on the wall.

"Explain to me why I was woken up," Edward demanded in an eerily menacing yet quiet voice as he closed his eyes. "For the **third** time this morning. By my over-sized lump of a brother making a lot of noise while flattening my roommate and my tiny pixie-like sister who was poking me with a flyswatter."

"Lost a bet." Emmett offered simply as Rosalie helped him up.

"What bet?" I asked, slightly scared to find out.

"Poker." Alice said in a bubbly voice as she peeked out from behind Jasper. "And yes, I lost too."

Jasper and Rosalie looked disapprovingly at their significant others, who looked sheepishly in the other direction. Edward still hadn't opened his eyes, and I was sitting up in my giant t-shirt and sweatpants, wondering how much more interesting this year could get.

"Good morning sunshine!" Emmett said brightly as he looked over at me. "What time did you get up?"

"Umm… five minutes ago when you sat on me." I said as I stood up. "You're really big, you know that?"

"Geez, you try to be friendly and make polite conversation and look at where it gets you." He muttered, a fake hurt expression on his face.

I shot a look at Emmett, who turned to look at Rosalie, who was glaring at something Jasper had said, who was staring at Alice, who was trying to suck-up to Edward to gain forgiveness. We were all caught off guard when Edward sighed and opened his eyes.

"Alice and Emmett, you're buying lunch. We'll meet up at the diner on 53rd at noon," Edward declared with a forgiving tone. "Now, if you're not Bella, get out."

"Sheesh, can't even spare some patience for his own flesh and blood." Emmett muttered in mock hurt as he grabbed Rosalie's hand escorted her out.

"We're adopted, dumb-ass." Alice told him darkly as she and Jasper followed. "I'm mad at you. I was saving that money to add to the dress-Bella-up fund!"

"The what?" I asked, my mouth falling open.

"Nothing," Alice said brightly, covering up whatever she didn't mean to tell.

Edward ignored them all and shut the door as soon as they were out. "At least we're not related."

"So you're all adopted?" I asked curiously. It had never come up in our many conversations the night before. There were many things that came up that I wished didn't, though, like past relationships (Emmett 12, Rosalie 13, Jasper 3, Alice 2, Edward 1, and me with none because I didn't count the awful time I had with Jacob Black my senior year) and our top five most embarrassing moments.

"Yeah. Our mom, we all call her Esme, couldn't have kids," he explained, his eyes getting soft at the mention of his family. "When Carlisle, my father, helped with my parents until they died, he met me. For some in-explicable reason, he decided that the best Christmas present for Esme was me, an orphaned toddler. When I was three, the adoption was finalized. By the time I was six, Emmett and Alice had been adopted."

"I'm jealous. I'm an only child." I said wistfully. And it was true. I had always wanted an older brother, or maybe a twin sister. But Charlie and Renee had split up when I was only a few months old, so it was impossible.

"Don't be. Trust me, I wish I was an only child sometimes." He assured me as he went to brush his teeth. "I mean, would you really want Alice and Emmett as your brother and sister?"

I giggled shutting the bathroom door on him as I announced I'd be getting changed. When I was decent in jeans and a t-shirt, I announced that he could come in, and we switched as I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and he got dressed. By the time we were ready, it was almost noon, so we made our way down to the lobby. Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it there on time.

"BELLA!" I heard a familiar voice call through the hallways. "It's me, Mike!"

"Newton." Edward groaned in frustration. I could see his good mood floating away as Mike got closer and closer. By the time he got there, Edward was scowling.

"Hey there Bella! Cullen." Mike said as he came over to stand in front of us. He didn't ever take his eyes away from me, which was terribly creepy. Edward seemed to notice this and wrapped his arm around my waist tightly. I couldn't help but notice how good it felt to be in his arms, like it lifted a weight off of my shoulders. I shut that out of my mind quickly though, for how could a guy like Edward be meant for girl like me?

"So Bella," Mike said with a grin on his face. "I was just heading to lunch and I was wondering if you wanted-"

"Newton, I appreciate it if you'd leave my girlfriend alone." Edward said, hugging me closer to his side as his other hand slid itself into mine. I locked my fingers through his and once again ignored the electric sensations. I reminded myself that this was just a game that Edward was playing to tick off Mike and to get him away from me.

"Fine, I'll go. I'll be at the coffee house on sixth if you want to meet me though." He said as he winked at me and walked off.

As soon as he walked out of the door, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. Edward, however, was still tense, and I looked around quickly. I found the reason when I saw a bobbing flash of red making its way towards us in the crowded lobby area.

"Oh my god, Edward!" Meghan squealed as she too made her way over to us. She completely ignored me and fluffed her hair as she batted her eyelashes in a way she thought was seductive. "Eddie, we should TOTALLY hook up tonight. I know this great bar on seventh…"

But somewhere in her babbling, something in me changed, and I got a sudden surge of jealousy. I glanced up at Edward, who was silently pleading me to make her stop. The jealousy seemed to bring about a whole new surge of confidence I'd never had before, and I bravely got on my tiptoes on whispered into Edward's ear. "Just play along, ok?"

He nodded infinitesimally, and I took it as my cue. "Sweetheart, can we go now? I'm just worried we're going to be late…"

I'd always been an awful liar, and I'm pretty sure that if Meghan hadn't been so shocked, she would have seen right through me. I took her open mouth as a cue to go on, and I plastered on a smile.

"It's our two-year anniversary!" I stage-whispered to her. I'm sure Edward caught the shaky tone in my voice, and I could feel his chest shake as he silently laughed. Meghan however, was oblivious.

"Eddie-kinz, won't you go out with me once?" she whined. I hoped she realized how unattractive it was to whine like that, but judging from her behavior earlier, she was too stunned to notice.

"Sorry Meghan, but Bella and I will be busy." He said slyly as he winked at me.

"EEERRRGGGHH!" she huffed angrily as she stormed out of the room. Clearly, Meghan didn't like to be shot down.

I could tell that we weren't going to drop the act till we got into our cars, so I followed when Edward pulled my hand towards the exit. As soon as we neared a silver Volvo, he dropped my hand and told me to get in. I couldn't help but notice how empty my hand felt without his in it.

"Thank you so much." He said sincerely, though I could see the laughter bubbling below the surface. "Meghan wasn't going to leave if she thought you were un-attached…"

"No problem." I said as I buckled my seat-belt and let out a sigh of relief. "You helped me with Mike, so now we're even."

"God, that was funny though, wasn't it?" he chuckled as he remembered.

We laughed the whole way to the diner, and the meal there wasn't much different. I had a feeling that I would have an interesting year… but I really had no idea how interesting.


	7. Brotherly Love

**Hey chickadee's, just wanted to tell all you amazing fanfiction people to check out my poll to put in you twilight saga vote: Edward or Jacob? Mine was Edward, but don't let that sway you… Oh, and just in case you guys can't tell from reading, this is a couple of months later. If I was going to put a hard date on it I'd say… November 3. Enjoy!**

"No more Alice! You too, Rose! I'm done!" I shouted as I stormed into my dorm room. Well, Edward's and mine dorm room.

"Bella, I just bought you some more necessities for the winter season. You should thank me." Alice informed me matter-of-factly as she followed me. Rosalie was quiet, deep in thought about something. I was too exhausted and peeved to care. I set down my 10 (yes, 10) shopping bags and Alice handed me the other 5 (yes, 15 total) bags to set down with them.

"Alice! Since when are six-inch heels a necessity in winter in New York?" I cried as I gestured to said shoes. Yes, they were cute, but I would trip and kill myself. Actually, I do that anyway.

"Bella, where's Edward?" Rosalie asked suddenly.

"Umm… I think he's hanging out with Emmett and Jasper in Jasper's dorm." I said absent-mindedly as I hung up the clothes I didn't want. I shot a dark look at Alice when I picked up a dark blue shirt with a three hundred dollar price tag.

"Three hundred dollars for a top, Alice?" I asked in a low voice, not really sure I really wanted to know the answer.

"Bella, my father's a doctor, my mother is an interior decorator, and I'm making plenty to support myself off of free-lancing jobs. Money's not an issue." She insisted as she waved me off.

I sighed deeply, hanging up the shirt along with the last of the clothes. I jumped when Rosalie suddenly slammed the door shut and locked it behind her. She motioned for us to follow her lead, and sit on the 

beds. I sat on mine, while Rosalie and Alice sat on Edward's. I was beginning to get suspicious from the evil look in their eyes when they suddenly shouted.

"CONFESSION!" they squealed in unison. I covered my ears with my hands and winced.

"Geez, I'd like to not need a hearing aid until I'm at least 60, thank you very much! Now what are we confessing about?" I asked as I slowly removed my hands.

"First off," Alice informed me as she and Rose got onto their knees and leaned in towards me. "We are not that loud, so quit being a drama queen. Secondly, WE are not confessing anything. YOU are confessing your love for my brother."

I flushed a deep crimson and got up off the bed. "Look guys-"

"No Bella." Rosalie interrupted me. "Either you tell us now or we tell Edward even if it's not true."

I cringed as I considered the thought, and flushed a deeper red as I mumbled my answer. "Yeah, I like him."

They both squealed and shot up off the bed, jumping up and down. "Bella loves Edward!"

"Guys, keep it down." I shushed them half-heartedly, knowing that efforts to keep the two of them quiet about anything were futile.

"Took you long enough!" Alice yelled gleefully, Rose nodding furiously in the background. I wave them off and went to unlock the door.

"You two are ridiculous." I muttered as I ushered them out the door.

"The usual?" Rosalie asked on the way out.

"Yep." I answered. Ever since that first week, we met up at my/Edward's dorm and had take-out at seven every Friday. It was our new tradition, and I loved it.

I walked back into the dorm and started on some Spanish homework I had. I loathed the language and planned on only taking it for the minimum requirement of one year. I tried to focus on the work, but kept getting this weird nauseous sensation. Ignoring it, I finished up and called the take-out number at six.

"Hey Bella." Edward greeted me as he walked in the door. I held a finger to my mouth, signaling him to be quiet so I could finish ordering.

"So beautiful, for 2 orders of orange chicken, 1 order of general tso's chicken, 1 order of cashew chicken, and 3 containers of white rice it'll be 35 dollars." A slimy voice oozed out of the phone.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "We're on the phone, so you can't tell if I'm beautiful or not. And can you make sure that there are six fortune cookies this time?"

"Sure thing babe. Oh, and my number is-"

"Bella sweetheart?" Edward suddenly called loudly. I shot him a thankful look.

"Sorry, but I've gotta go. My, uh…fiancée… just got home." I lied badly, stuttering over the words. I listened for his goodbye and hung up the phone.

"Thanks." I said as I ran a hand through my hair. "He was obnoxious."

"I could tell." He said with a grim look on his face. I looked at him for a while as he moved about the room, grabbing things and shoving them in drawers, trying to figure out why he was so disturbed by this. I soon forgot about it as another wave of nausea passed over me. I swayed a little and held onto the edge of my desk.

"Bella? You alright?" Edward asked as he noticed my position. He came over and helped to steady me, a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine, just got a little dizzy." I said, ignoring both the churning in my stomach and the electricity running through my body from his casual touch. If only…but a guy like Edward could never like a girl like me. Besides, I made that promise to myself at the beginning of the year, and I was going to hold onto that as my excuse. I mean, sure, I guess I had feelings for Edward, but who didn't?

Right?


	8. Lovely

**Bonjour, my loyal readers (and anyone new who is good enough to try this story until chapter eight), here is the much awaited chapter eight! I'm trying to remember if there was anything else that I needed to say or do…but I don't think so! And no, Bella and Edward have no relationship status other than friends. So why would she be pregnant?**

"Emmett, I don't care how strong you think you are. You CAN NOT just take down a grizzly bear with your bare hands!" Rosalie exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Maybe not…but I could try." He said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Over my pile of ashes." She hissed as she poked her finger at his ginormus chest.

I laughed weakly, trying to ignore the sick feeling again. I had been feeling worse and worse as the evening went on, feeling dizzy and achy, as well as nauseous. Edward had noticed when he caught me, but I pretended that I just hadn't eaten in a while. Unfortunately, he made sure that I ate plenty of food at dinner, which made the nausea worse.

"OK guys, I don't know about you, but I've got to get back to the dorm and work on a huge paper due this weekend." Jasper yawned as he got up, towing Alice with him.

"But Jazz, it's only…" she complained as she stopped to look down at her watch. "Holy…! It's almost eleven! Jasper, we have to go! I've got an entire collection mock-up to finish this weekend."

She and Jasper quickly said their goodbyes and rushed out of the room, leaving the rest of us to start cleaning up.

"I guess we'll go too. I only got like four hours of sleep last night…" Emmett yawned. He and Rosalie quickly left too.

"I'm gonna hit the hay too, Edward, I'm beat." I mumbled weakly five minutes later as I slid into bed. Through my barely cracked eyes, I could see him looking at me with concern, but it felt too good to shut my eyes and relax so I did just that.

I woke with a start at 3 in the morning. I looked at my clock with bleary eyes, wondering why I was up only four hours after I fell asleep and why I was so hot, when I felt my stomach heave. I covered my mouth with my hands, my eyes wide as I snapped on the light and raced to the bathroom. I tripped only once, over a binder that was lying on the floor, but I stumbled on. Thankfully, I made it to the bathroom just in time, frantically flipping on the switch and racing to the toilet.

When I was finished, I slumped to the floor, pressing my cheek to the cool floor. I shut my eyes and tried to ignore how awful I felt. Apparently, it didn't work, because five minutes later, I was hurling again. This time, I heard Edward stagger in the room as I finished.

"What's go- Bella! Are you all right?" He asked as he rushed to my side. I glared at him and merely slumped against the tub.

"I'm puking. Why would I be all right?" I asked crossly, aware that I sounded like I felt awful.

He ignored my sarcasm and padded over to my side, putting the back of his hand on my forehead.

"Mmm, your hand is cold. It feels good…" I mumbled, not quite aware of what I was saying.

"Bella, you're burning up!" Edward exclaimed as he jumped up and grabbed his cell phone. I tried to fall asleep against the marvelously cool tub, but for some reason, couldn't. I settled for curling up in the tub and lying there listening to whoever Edward was talking to.

"Yes, she's burning up…no, none of that….hmm…twice….Alice and Emmett…. last spring, I'll be fine… thanks Dad…Night." He said quietly, and there was silence for a while. I'm assuming that he called someone else, because he started talking again.

"Hey Alice…yes, I know it's late….early? Sorry, its an emergency….Bella's got a nasty case of the flu…shopping…yes, really….yes, Alice, now….fine! …An hour?...fine….hurry…bye."

I heard more quiet, and then Edward's voice again.

"Emmett…" he began, but I could hardly hear him over the roaring yells on the other end of the phone. Apparently, Emmett liked his sleep. Note to self: easier to wake the living dead than Emmett.

"EMMETT! I KNOW!" Edward bellowed. I opened my eyes a crack to see him pacing (oh god, shirtless) on the other end of the tiny bathroom, holding the phone at arm's length. "Bella's sick…babysitting….I know….liar…bad lie…even worse lie….seriously Emmett, is there some book you're getting these out of? No….definitely no….over my dead body….hmm….an hour max….bye."

"Edward?" I asked, wincing when it sounded like a croak. My throat was actually the only thing that didn't hurt. "Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, I didn't know you were awake! How are you feeling?" he asked as he came to sit beside the tub. I glared at him again, and he laughed. "Ok, not so well. I was talking to my father, who's a doctor, and he said that you probably have an awful case of the flu, but that to help out, he'd need your temperature and to get you some medicine, so I called Alice. Alice is getting everything, but needed someone to help with the medicine, which would be me, so when I leave for a bit, Emmett will help."

"Alice is buying me as much stuff as she wants and Emmett is babysitting me?" I cried incredulously. "Am I the only one who sees what is seriously wrong with that sentence?"

Again he chuckled, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, I felt my stomach heave again. I hoisted myself out of the tub on shaky legs and nearly fell on Edward, but I made it over to the toilet in time. This time, though, Edward held my hair back kindly. In the back of my mind, something was telling me that I shouldn't love that simple gesture between friends as much as I did, but I didn't care. One, because the fever was making me a bit delusional, and two: I was sick of telling myself that I didn't like Edward. In fact, I think that I might love him. But of course, I have to have this epiphany leaning over a toilet bowl puking my guts out. Lovely.

Blearily, I shut the lid and flushed the toilet. When it was done, I laid my head against the cool surface, letting Edward sweep the hair off of the back of my neck to keep me cool.

"Hey! Won't you get sick too?" I asked as the thought suddenly came to me.

He chuckled. "My father's a doctor, so it's pretty much a family law that you get a flu shot every year."

I harrumphed as I shakily got up and collapsed in the tub. "Go back to sleep. I'll be fine here."

"I'll just camp out here in case you need me. Let me just go get some pillows…" he told me as he hoisted himself off the ground.

Five minutes later, I was asleep and Edward was gently sliding a pillow behind my back in the tub, where I was laying my head on the cool tile. "Goodnight, Bella."

"Night." I mumbled.

An hour later, I was awoken to a horrid sound coming from next to me. I blearily opened my eyes and shot up in my seat when I saw that Edward was leaning on the toilet, moaning. A half-second later, he was puking again. After he was done and had slid down into my previous position, I poked his head.

"Hey Edward? How's that flu shot working out?" I asked cheerily. Now at least I had someone to be sick with, and that someone just happened to be the person I had practically been in love with for the past 3 months. Plus, I couldn't fail to see the humor in the situation, despite the fever.

"Shut up." He mumbled against the toilet bowl.

What a morning.


	9. Qurantine

**I am so terribly sorry, my splendiferous reviewers, that I haven't updated recently. My schedule had some major adjusting to it and I also had a jam-packed couple of weeks. Rather than try and see how not sleeping works, I couldn't update. So, without further ado…the chapter!**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Tylenol, bath-tubs, or Edward Cullen (I wish). Would I really be here right now if I did?**

"Good morning sunshine!" Alice trilled as she slammed open the door. Edward and I glanced at each other wearily. Neither one of us had gotten much sleep, seeing as we each had a fever but no medicine to bring it down and couldn't stop throwing up. Not that there was much left to throw up…but the dry heaves were definitely worse.

"Edward? We have to go-" she called curiously. Unfortunately for Alice, she had chosen to walk in just as Edward threw up.

"QUARANTINE!!" she bellowed as soon as she saw Edward's figure over the toilet. I highly doubt she could see me in the bathtub, but who knows. Maybe she's a vampire with super-spidey senses. Quick as a flash, she slammed the bathroom door shut. I heard the pitter-patter of her tiny feet running across the room and shutting the door. A moment later, my phone rang.

"Ugh." I groaned as I noticed that the phone was on the opposite side of the room. I got up, but nearly fell and cracked my head when the vertigo from sitting so long hit. Luckily, Edward managed to weakly grab my waist, and grunted in response to the weight. He got up and stumbled to the door, reaching the phone just in time.

"What?" he asked blearily. I sympathized with him for a moment, until my stomach turned and I retched into the toilet again.

"Yes, that's Bella. No, I can't make her stop. Alice, I quite honestly don't care. For the couple of hours, I have been rotating between puking my guts out and trying to help Bella feel better. Just leave them at the door. Bye."

When Edward was finished, he opened the door and grabbed 3 plastic bags from the doorstep. I could faintly hear Alice hoping that we'd feel better soon, but Edward shut the door just as the voice began coming closer.

"Alice. He grumbled, making it sound like a curse.

Without another word, he walked over to me and sunk down onto the floor. I leaned over and reached into the first bag, pulling out something in a cardboard case. _Instant Read Thermometer_, it said, boasting that it was the fastest and most accurate thermometer on the market. Ripping open the package, I shoved a plastic covering onto the end of it and stuck it into Edward's mouth. He yelped in surprise, but I held a finger over my mouth, telling him to be quiet. When I heard a beeping noise, I pulled it gently out of his mouth and sank further back into the tub.

"Edward, you have a 102.3 degree fever!" I exclaimed. He shrugged and stole the thermometer deftly from me and replaced the plastic cover. He slipped it into my mouth a moment later, and when he pulled it out, had nearly the same reaction.

"Crap, Bella! You have a 102.4 fever!" he yelled. I cringed a bit, but otherwise ignored him, pulling out a bottle of Tylenol instead. I read the back of the bottle before popping it open and handing him two pills, saving another two for myself. I was hauling myself out of the tub and over Edward, who was currently stuck throwing up again, when I heard his phone ringing.

"Hello?" I asked wearily, not sure how much I could take.

"Hey Bella, its Alice. I just figured that I'd let you know that you and Edward are in quarantine right now. I called our father, and he's coming down to check on you two since he doesn't trust anyone else. _No Emmett, get away!_ And I definitely watch out, because I heard that Meghan just caught the chicken pox and she was hanging all over Edward the other day…_Jasper! Stop it!_ I really think that you and Edward need to change clothes, because the one's you're wearing are disgusting. I left some new pajamas in the bag for the both of you, so put them on soon. _Yes Rosalie, I'll tell her!_ Rosalie says to make sure that you know to shower first. _What? What do you mean, Jasper and Emmett are…_ AGH! BellsIgottagotalktoyoulaterbye!"

"Alice?" Edward asked weakly. I nodded before I padded over to the bags. I looked into one, and when I found some blue pajama's in the bag, I handed the other one to him. I knew that Alice thought that I looked amazing in blue, but usually I just ignored her. Edward walked out of the room and shut the door so that we could change, and five minutes later, we were slumping in our seats at our desks, trying to stay awake as we waited for Carlisle's call.

"Screw it." I mumbled sleepily and padded over to my bed, falling down and immediately falling asleep. I was aware of a loud thump a few minutes later, and barely recognized when I fell off the bed myself, but I did realize that I was probably squishing whatever I was laying on. Deciding that I would worry about that later, I snuggled up to the warm object on the floor and slept.

**Once again, I'm really sorry about the tiny length and long update times, but I'm working really hard on my other two stories. I also kind of decided that this would be kind of a short-story type deal, where I would post little chapters every once in a while that don't really have much drama or anything. So, this will be a fluffy little fun story to read when you're bored of my other work, and I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone. Toodles!**


	10. Of Pillows and Cold Pills

I woke up to find myself pleased that the throwing up was done and over with, for I no longer felt nauseous. I still wasn't anywhere close to being ready to even think about eating, but I wasn't throwing up, which was always a plus.

I was most definitely confused. I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but I could tell there was something wrong with my pillow. It was too hard, and while it was warm and smelled amazing, I wanted my squishy pillow back. Deciding that I was too tired to care, I wormed my way closer into the pillow that was not mine. I was pleased when the pillow moved gently up and down, almost like it was trying to soothe me to sleep. I quickly agreed that I had taken one too many cold pills, but the blankets managed to wrap themselves closer to my waist, and they were warm enough to erase any thoughts. I groaned a bit in frustration when I found that my feet were still cold, but I curled them into the blanket and they were soon toasty.

Something here was wrong. My blanket shouldn't be this warm and stiff, though it feels nice and soft, almost like my cotton pajamas. My pillow shouldn't have been this hard either, though I was more than willing to trade the slight discomfort for the amazing smell and warmth.

Summoning up the courage to face the day and whatever stole my pillow and blankets, I bravely opened my eyes. OK, so I squinted one eye open a little. It still didn't change the fact that Edward Cullen was wrapped around my frigid body.

Well, it certainly solved the missing pillow mystery. While Edward's chest was amazingly warm and beautifully scented, his muscles made it a third-rate pillow. He did get bonus points for having rock hard muscles though.

The blanket mystery was solved as well, now that I saw his arms tightly wound around me like if he released a little, we would both fly away in opposite directions. Seeming like he could read my mind, his arms tightened a little more. It was no where near uncomfortable, quite the opposite actually, but it made me squirm. _I shouldn't get this much enjoyment out of something he's doing sub-consciously, probably thinking about someone else. _ I was so naïve to think that someone as god-like as him could want me for even a moment in his sleep.

Blushing again (what I would to give to never be able to blush again), I made a sudden brave decision and chose to wake him up.

_Poke. _

Nothing.

_Poke._

Nothing.

_Poke Poke Poke._

"Of course you would be a deep sleeper," I muttered exasperatedly when he didn't react for the third time to my assault of his chest. "The one time I'm courageous in my entire life…"

Sighing deeply, I decided that it must have been a sign. All right, so the sign thing was a lie. I just became too cowardly. With a final attempt at waking him, I blushed at our position and fervently prayed that no one would walk in on us lying asleep and think the wrong thing.

"Bella," someone whispered gently. I woke up, startled. Noting that I had been asleep for another 2 hours and that it was now 6 at night, I continued my investigation. Edward's arms were now curled loosely at my waist, and one of his long fingers was lying on the bare patch of skin that existed where my shirt rode up at my stomach. Shivering at his un-intentional touch, I saw my chance to escape and began wiggling my way out. Edward, in whatever he was dreaming about, didn't like my escape attempt and tightened his arms automatically.

"Figures." I muttered quietly as I re-examined my newly imprisoned self. There was no way out without waking him now. After another poke attempt, I decided it was useless and snuggled into his side again.

"Bella…beautiful…" he mumbled as he tucked his head into the crook of my neck.

Blushing furiously, I stiffened, ready for him to wake up and tell me it was all a misunderstanding, that he had been dreaming about some other woman named Bella whom he thought was beautiful. After all, he couldn't be talking about me.

"Love…don't know…" he murmured again. I flushed again, making a mental note to ask Alice about Edward asleep the next time I saw her. I was dying of embarrassment and curiosity, the worst double-edged sword.

"Alice…give Bella back…me…" he complained, his broken-husky voice thick with sleep.

I shook with silent laughter at the mental image of Alice and Edward fighting over me until I flushed again. Edward…wanting me? I understood fully that he and I were now good friends and amiable roommates, but I highly doubted that he would secretly feel for me the way I felt about him.

"Edward," I whispered softly in his ear a moment later when I decided to be brave.

I received no answer, the rising and falling of his chest the only reminder that he was still alive.

I was about to ignore him for the third time and go back to sleep when I heard a commotion outside.

"NO!!! CARLISLE, DON'T GO IN THERE!" Alice's muffled voice came through the door.

"Alice honey, I'm a doctor." I heard a man's voice say as he came closer to the door.

My eyes widened as the doorknob started jiggling and I swear my heart skipped a beat.

"EDWARD!" I hissed quietly, trying to shove him off of me before his father arrived.

A moment later, a tall blonde man carrying a black bag walked in through the door, shutting it carefully after him.

"Ed…oh. You must be Bella." He said good-naturedly, though you could easily see his shock.

"Um…yes. Bella Swan," I told him, blushing. I hid my face behind my hair, trying to convince myself that this wasn't happening.

He walked over to Edward's bed, setting his bag down gently before he opened it up. I squirmed in Edward's arms a bit, trying to break free. Carlisle turned around to see me trying to pry Edward's arm off of my waist and burst into laughter.

I blushed furiously but continued my attempts, ignoring the fact that every time I'd get his arm even an inch off, he'd securely attach it to my waist again.

"I'm sorry for laughing Bella, but Edward's always been a deep sleeper. I suppose I just didn't know how deep until now…" he chuckled, his blue-green eyes twinkling mischievously.

I followed his eyes down to my neck, where Edward's head was nestled, his bronze hair messy from the long day of throwing up. All of a sudden, his head turned to where he was facing me straight on. His eyes blearily opened, and he smiled gently at me. His smile faded when he realized he had no idea where he was, and he turned to look around. I saw the confused look turn horrified when his eyes met his father's.

"Good evening Edward."

**I WILL UPDATE EVERY SINGLE STORY ON THE FOURTH OF NOVEMBER, IF NOT BEFORE! If you're ever unsure, just check my profile and I'll say any certain days. Oh, and make sure to read MeghanCullen's story. Tell her how amazing she is, and convince her to continue. She won't listen to my plea's (even after I said that I'd become a beta for her!), so maybe you'll help. **


	11. Black Bags

_Previously__…_

_I followed his eyes down to my neck, where Edward's head was nestled, his bronze hair messy from the long day of throwing up. All of a sudden, his head turned to where he was facing me straight on. His eyes blearily opened, and he smiled gently at me. His smile faded when he realized he had no idea where he was, and he turned to look around. I saw the confused look turn horrified when his eyes met his father's. _

"_Good evening Edward." _

"I'm assuming that this is the Bella I've heard so much about." Carlisle said with a grin plastered to his face as he sat down on Edward's bed and began digging through his medical bag.

Edward looked at me apologetically, though anyone could plainly see the fear that was set in them.

"Umm…yeah. Hey dad." He mumbled sheepishly as he disentangled himself from me. Edward wasn't quite…flustered…per say. No, Edward Cullen was never flustered. He was too perfect for that. Edward was…unbelievable. He seemed to be embarrassed (I could only assume he was embarrassed, though he showed no signs), but he held as much dignity as possible.

"Dad, this is Bella Swan…my roommate." He introduced as he nervously ran a hand through his mussed hair. We were standing by now, and Carlisle glanced up for a moment. He smiled mischievously and brought his attention back to his bag.

"I know. You talk in your sleep." Carlisle said calmly. Edward mumbled something lowly that sounded like a stream of expletives, and I made a mental note to get him to spend less time with Emmett.

"Son, what did I tell you about swearing in front of women…" Carlisle warned as he examined an intimidating looking syringe and a bottle of pink liquid.

"I know, I know. Don't do it." He muttered. So this was where Edward got his impeccable, turn-of-the-century style manners. His father obviously had a great deal of influence on him. And though they weren't blood relations, they looked incredibly alike. Not necessarily in the features, but in the fact that they were both undeniably attractive.

Carlisle sighed and motioned for his son to sit next to him. With a sideways look at me, as if to assure me that I would be fine, he sunk into the bed.

"So I'm assuming that you were able to stop vomiting?" he asked, assuming a more formal, strict persona. I could only presume that it was his inner doctor mode coming out.

Edward nodded and smiled ruefully. "Thankfully."

"What about you, Bella?" Carlisle asked, looking up from his bag for a moment. I suddenly realized that I had been standing there for the entire time and made my way over to my bed, where I sat down timidly.

"Yes." I said softly. Edward caught my eye and smiled encouragingly. By this time, he knew very well just how shy I really was.

"Have either of you taken your temperatures recently?" Carlisle asked as he lightly shook a thermometer with one hand and dug around until he found two protective covers.

"Not since this morning." Edward answered as he took the thermometer from his father and stuck it in his mouth without further instruction. After checking the reading (a toasty 100 degrees), he rinsed it off and applied a new cover before handing it to me.

"101.1 degrees is not a healthy temperature, Bella." Carlisle scolded as he gently took it from me. "Neither is 100, Edward."

"Now what have your appetites been like lately?" Carlisle asked, looking up briefly from a clipboard he had pulled out of his bag.

Confused, I looked at Edward to see if he understood either. He shrugged and shook his head, the universal symbol for _I have no idea what he's talking about either. _

"Umm…I don't think that I've eaten as much lately. My throat's been too scratchy to eat much of anything, not that I've had the appetite." I answered.

"Really?" Edward asked incredulously. "I've been feeling the exact same way."

"Hmmm…." Carlisle murmured as he examined his board. I was snuggling further into the sea of pillows and blankets I had squished myself into when he gasped lowly. Startled by the sudden noise, I looked up, only to see Edward being reprimanded for swearing again.

"What is it?" I asked hesitantly, not sure if I really wanted to know. "What's wrong with us?"

They looked at each other for a moment, having a silent conversation. I suppose Edward won, for Carlisle sighed and waved him on before he began packing up his bag again.

"Are…are you…itchy, Bella?" Edward asked. Confused, I furrowed my brow.

"What do you mean, it…oh no. No, no, NO!" I cried as realization hit me like a brick. He solemnly nodded and I noticed one little reddish imperfection on his normally flawless face, right about his eyebrow.

"Not…no. Not the chicken pox!"

**So I'm amazingly hyper, (which has only happened like one other time in my entire life. No joke. Yeah, I know, I'm a freak.) for some random reason and I just realized that when you just call her Bella instead of Isabella, her initials are BS. Hahahahah…yeah, I should shut up now. ANYWAY…I just figured that I should explain myself. See, I didn't update this particular story on the fourth…and I'm really sorry. Life got amazingly complicated and I lacked any eating or sleeping time for a while, but that's all over for a while!**

**I think someone suggested saying what songs I listened to when writing this. I guess it's helpful for imagining the mood and whatnot (or maybe its' just an excuse to find more music), but here are a few songs:**

**Anastasia Soundtrack, N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears (yes, I was revisiting my childhood), and some fifties music (Little Bitty Pretty One, Earth Angel, etc.), plus a little Michael Bublé and Taylor Swift, to make everything all mixed and crazy. **

**Oh, and I just figured that I'd let people know that I am available to beta if anyone needs me. **

**OK, fourth and final thing. I feel absolutely horrible for ignoring writing lately, so I will try my bestest to get another chapter of this out, if not another one to all my stories. TOMMOROW SHOULD BRING ANOTHER CHAPTER OF THIS, because I feel bad leaving ****another**** cliffy. **

**And yes, bestest is a word. **


	12. Walkie Talkies

"How the hell did you two catch the chicken pox?" a loud voice boomed from outside, startling us all.

Carlisle sighed. "Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper. You can all come in now. Unless you eat or drink after or touch Edward or Bella, you won't catch anything."

A moment later, the sheepish bunch filed into the room, greeting the three of us quietly before seating themselves on the floor as far away from us as possible.

"Guys, we're not _that_ contagious yet. Are we?" I asked as I shifted my position to look at them.

"Well…they can't catch it from physical contact until the sores develop. I already see one on Edward," Carlisle explained. At the mention of his name, Edward's head snapped up with a look of horror. He bolted off the bed and ran to the bathroom to check his reflection in the mirror. I heard him groan a minute later and he padded dejectedly into the room soon after.

"As I was saying, when the sores develop, they will be incredibly contagious. I'm afraid Alice had the right idea with the quarantine. And until the sores have all scabbed over, you will stay that way." Carlisle continued as he rose and made his way over to the bathroom. We could hear the faucet running, so I assume that he was washing his hands. A moment later, he stepped out with a towel in his hands.

"Alice?" he asked as he dried off his hands.

"Yeah dad?" she replied, lifting her head off of Jasper's shoulder.

"Can you go to the store and buy several bottles of calamine lotion?" he asked, tossing the towel into a hamper. Alice grinned and nodded gleefully before pulling herself up off the floor, Jasper in tow.

"Don't scratch, because it'll suck later." Jasper told us as he waited for Alice to put on her incredibly tall shoes.

"You had the chicken pox?" Edward asked curiously.

"Yeah, when I was five." He answered. "I still have some scars."

Now that I was really looking, I could see a grouping of scars on his jaw line that almost looked like a bite mark. Alice straightened up, and with a hand on the small of her back, Jasper ushered her out. We could hear Alice babbling about shopping all the way out.

"Now, the older you are, the worse the chicken pox is. My best bet would be that you two are going to be stuck in this room for the next…ten days, or so." Carlisle explained as he sat down next to Emmett and Rosalie at the small table we had. Edward and I groaned in unison at all the classes we would be missing.

"The most important thing is not to scratch. It will prevent the sores from scabbing and prolong the exposure, as well as creating some nasty scars. Alice and Jasper are getting some calamine lotion, which should help, but the itchy sensation won't completely stop until the sores have healed." Carlisle continued.

"Ew. Can we stop saying the word sore? It's freaking me out." Emmett requested as he shifted his weight, thus shifting Rosalie, who was perched on his lap.

Carlisle rolled his eyes at his eldest child, but obliged. "The…marks…will appear anywhere, but mostly on the upper body, especially the arms, face, and neck. Your fever should slowly reduce, but it won't officially leave for a while."

***

Twenty minutes and three bottles of calamine lotion later, Edward and I were being locked in our room.

"You have the walkie-talkies?" Alice asked.

"Alice, I still don't see why they can't just use their cell phones." Rosalie said as she walked in from the bathroom, where she had stocked the lotion on the counter.

"Because it's so much cooler this way!" Emmett interrupted. He was huge and terrifyingly large, but he was such a child at heart.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, but said no more. Jasper walked into the room a few moments later, slamming the door after him.

"Disgusting." He hissed as he shrugged off his coat. Alice looked at him curiously, silently asking him to explain.

"Meghan's sister is in town." He growled as he stormed into the room and threw himself in a chair.

"Allie what's her face?" Emmett asked with a huge grin on his face.

"That's the one. She wouldn't leave me alone. I even took the stairs and she followed! Of course, she made sure that she was first, shaking her ass the whole way up. I think she was trying to flirt with me." He spat out, shuddering at the memory. Alice looked furiously jealous and Emmett and Edward were snickering.

"Red hair isn't the only thing that runs in that family." Rosalie commented as she snatched the bag out of Jasper's clenched fists.

"What's in the bag?" I asked cautiously from my bed. I was still exhausted and desired in no way to leave my comfortable sitting position. Edward was lying down, but had his pillows positioned so he was propped up.

"Oatmeal." Rosalie said simply as she waltzed into the bathroom.

"Oatmeal?" I asked.

"You're supposed to put it in the bath and soak. It's supposed to help stop the itching." Edward explained as he nonchalantly tried to scratch his face.

"Stop scratching." I told him.

"I should tell you the same thing." He shot back pointedly. Defeated, I pulled my hand out from underneath my shirt, where my first spot was on my back.

"Well, I think we're going to head out. You've got your cell phones-"

"And walkie-talkies!" Emmett interrupted Rosalie. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"We're a phone call away." Alice said as she and Jasper ducked out.

"Don't do anything I would!" Emmett called boisterously as he and Rosalie exited.

"Well…" Edward said a moment later. "Now what?"

**Music listened to in this chapter:**

**Larger Than Life (Backstreet Boys), Lady Marmalade (Moulin Rouge Soundtrack), assorted N*Sync and Britney Spears, Single Ladies (Béyonce), Fly on the Wall (Miley Cyrus), and that Whistle Song (if you want to hear it, just type in whistle song to YouTube)**

**Seriously you guys, you rock! I woke up this morning to find 100 new messages in my inbox. 100! Thank you so much for all the responses and praise, and I will keep writing for you guys. Thanks a million! (And Jules, thanks for all of your response-to all of the chapters!)**


	13. Two Truths and a Lie

"Edward, you suck." I griped as I tossed my cards down. It was our last game in our championship, 5 games series of Go Fish. This was my fourth loss, and by the looks of it, I wouldn't be winning any time soon. Then again, I had the next two weeks to get better.

"Can I help it that you just can't play Go Fish?" he said smugly as he laid his final set of cards down, making the score 14 to 2.

"Shut up." I snapped half-heartedly as I absent mindedly scratched a spot on my face. Edward gently grabbed my arm and pointed to the spot.

"That's the fifth time you've scratched that spot in the past minute and a half." He pointed out as he released my arm, setting it on the table. I stuck my tongue out at him on my way to the bathroom.

"Ugh." I groaned when I looked in the mirror and found the third spot on my right cheek. Now I had one near my shoulder on my back, one on my hand, and one on my face. Edward was beating me, with three on his arm and two on his face. We had been sending each other into the bathroom to apply calamine lotion to the new spots alternately for the past thirty minutes. Alice and the others had left ten minutes before that, and we had heard nothing from the walkie-talkies since Emmett accidentally dropped his down the stairs.

"I'm catching up to you." I reminded him as I sunk down onto my bed. He chuckled and came to lie on his bed opposite mine.

"What are we going to do for 10 days?" I wondered aloud.

"I could keep beating you in Go Fish." He suggested mischievously. I turned to glare at him and he laughed again, making my heart soar for a moment. I had no idea how I was going to survive the next week and a half with just Edward. I didn't even think that I could last the next five minutes!

"Yeah right. What if I started winning?" I asked him.

"Yeah right." He mimicked, chuckling. I laughed at his miserable attempt to mimic me and he joined in.

"_Bella? Edward?"_ a crackling noise interrupted us. I looked around and saw that the face of our walkie-talkie was lit up.

"Alice." We said in unison as we realized what the noise was.

"Hey Alice," Edward said as he grabbed it off the table and pressed the button.

"_Hey Edward. How are you two?"_ she asked.

"The same as forty minutes ago when you last saw us, give or take a few spots." I answered just as Edward opened his mouth to speak.

"_Funny Bella. I was going to tell you how you got the chicken pox, but…"_ she said, trailing off at the end.

"Alice…" Edward warned.

"_Fine. Well, it appears that our red-headed friend had the chicken pox, but decided that she wouldn't tell anyone one. I'm guessing that last week when she 'accidentally' fell on you, you caught it. And I'm sure that you've had to catch Bella recently too."_ She said, her voice becoming distorted and crackly.

"Thanks Alice," I sighed. Leave it to Meghan to do something that stupid.

"_Has Edward beaten you at two truths and a lie yet?"_ Alice asked.

"What's that?" I asked curiously. Edward grinned mischievously at me and grabbed the walkie-talkie back.

"I will in a minute. Bye Alice." He said as he snapped the walkie-talkie off. I eyed him curiously as he got up and dug around until he found a pad of paper and a pen and came back.

"When we were in high school, Alice, Emmett, and I got the flu and had to stay home for a few days. We were bored out of our wits and desperate for something to do. Alice finally convinced us to play this game she usually played with Rosalie at their sleepovers, and I won. We played that game for hours and I never lost." He said as he made a tally on the paper.

"So how do you play?" I asked suspiciously. I didn't want to lose for the fifth time in a row that day, especially since Edward was the only company I'd be having for the next few days.

"It's really quite simple. You tell me three things about you, two of them true and one false. I have to figure out which one is a lie or else I lose. We go back and forth until someone decides to give up or the other person is winning by ten. You up for it?" Edward asked, his green eyes twinkling impishly.

"I don't know. Are you ready to lose?" I teased playfully. It took so long for me to be able to complete a full sentence around Edward without stumbling over my words, much less stop blushing every time he so much as looked at me. I thought of it as desensitization to the perfection that was Edward. I was still as intoxicated by him as I'd ever been, and there was no doubt that I loved him, but I could hide it now. I was still an awful liar, and there would be no hope for me if anyone flat out asked about my feelings towards him, but I could control myself now.

"Ha!" he scoffed. "I'll start."

"I've never told a woman who wasn't in my family I love you, I've had two broken bones, and I play piano." Edward said smoothly. His inflection never changed, and neither did his facial features.

"Damn. You're a good liar." I said as I sunk back in my chair. It was going to be a long day.

**Music Listened To:**

**Sh-Boom (it's a fifties song-it's also in the movie ****Clue****), That Don't Impress Me Much (Shania Twain), Lovestoned (Justin Timberlake), Gives You Hell (All American Rejects), Love Story (Taylor Swift), Everyone's a Little Bit Racist (Avenue Q), and assorted classical music (mostly cello/piano concertos)**

**Now, I've never had the chicken pox, and my little sister's can't remember what it was like, so I'm kind of fudging this. Let me know if I get anything wrong, and I'll try to fix it. Thanks!**


	14. Calamine Lotion

"Bella! Stop stalling!" Edward said exasperatedly as he slumped back into his chair.

"Fine! You're lying about…the broken bones." I said, making a snap decision. It had only been a minute or two, but Edward was apparently impatient.

"Wrong. I…wait. You got it…right?" he asked, clearly astonished.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Edward." I said sarcastically as I snatched the pad of paper and put a tally by my name.

"How did you know?" he asked in awe. Clearly, Edward was not used to losing.

"I didn't," I told him as I doodled mindlessly on the paper. "I guessed."

"Fine. You win…this round. Your turn." He said smugly. Unfortunately, he had reason to be. I was a terrible liar.

"Ok. Hmm…I managed to kill five goldfish in one week, I don't like stroganoff, and I'm obsessed with dogs." I said, flushing at the obvious lie.

"The third one." Edward said immediately. When I nodded, he grinned.

"Bella, I've known you for months know. Don't you think I would have realized if you were obsessed with something?" he admonished playfully as he marked a tally by his name with a flourish.

If only Edward knew of my real obsession…I'm sure that he'd be halfway to China now if he knew of my infatuation with him. Aw heck, who was I kidding? I was smitten. Head over heels. I was utterly, irrevocably in love with Edward Cullen.

"It doesn't help that you're a terrible liar." He added happily. I glared at him and his green eyes widened in mock surprise.

"We'll see about that. It's your turn." I told him.

"I can't whistle, I have two middle names, and I hate rap music." He listed calmly.

"Whistling." I told him instantly. His eyes darkened a shade as they narrowed, telling me that I had won again.

"How did you know?" he asked offhandedly, like he didn't even care.

"Well, for one, Alice is always saying your full name." I informed him as I stole the paper and made another tally.

"She has a bad habit of using full names, doesn't she?" he agreed.

"Isabella Marie Swan, why aren't you awake yet?" I mimicked her high, musical voice poorly. Edward chuckled though, which made me smile.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, get over here right now!" he mimicked, sounding much more Alice-like.

We laughed for a moment more before I continued. "It doesn't help that last week you were whistling for three hours straight to drive Emmett crazy."

"Whatever. It's your turn." He said as he nonchalantly tried to scratch his back. I raised my eyebrows at him, but he sheepishly lowered his hand and waved me on.

"I've cheated before, I've never tasted alcohol, and I have no living grandparents." I lied.

"The third one." He said absent-mindedly. I nodded and let him mark the paper.

"You cheated?" he finally asked, seeming surprised.

"In the fifth grade on a spelling test. The kid next to me was the smartest person in the class, and I couldn't remember how to spell foreign." I explained with a smile. He burst into laughter though, so I giggled along with him.

"Bella, that's not cheating. Cheating would be what I did on a math test in sixth grade. I copied down an entire problem from the girl across from me." He told me, chuckling as he surreptitiously scratched his back again.

"Edward, you need lotion on your back." I told him as I got up to get the lotion. I could hear him groaning from inside the tiny bathroom, and I smiled and shook my head as I returned. "Here."

He proceeded to squirt some of the un-naturally pink goo onto his fingers, making a face at the slurping sound the bottle made. He then slipped his hand under the back of his shirt, attempting to reach the itchy spot. He kept at it for a good two minutes before he gave up, bringing his hand back out again in defeat.

"Bella?" he asked hesitantly. Oh no. No. He wouldn't ask me to…he couldn't ask me to…not with my attraction to him… "Can you help me out here?"

Crap. "Sure." I squeaked out, trying to appear blasé. Why couldn't I be more like Alice or Rosalie? I knew how I felt. I loved Edward. But I severely doubted that someone like him could belong with someone like me. He deserved someone who fit with him, someone like Rosalie with killer looks and confidence or Alice with bubbly charm and beauty. I deserved someone like Jacob. Still good, but nowhere near comparison with Edward.

"Thanks." He sighed appreciatively before getting up and turning around. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes for a moment before stepping closer to grab the bottle of lotion. I looked back at Edward and saw that he had already taken his shirt off, leaving it lying on the chair nearby. I tried not to suck in a breath, and only half succeeded, breathing in a shaky gasp instead.

"Edward!" I admonished. His back, while well-toned and as pale as the rest of him, was completely covered in tiny red spots. "Your back is covered!"

I began to dab a little lotion in each spot, making sure to not miss any one mark. He hissed the first time I touched his back, complaining that the lotion was cold. Carefully, I finished applying the lotion, making sure that it was sufficiently rubbed in at each spot.

"Thank you so much, Bella." He said gratefully, as he spun around. There was something in his eyes that I couldn't place, something that had become more common lately. I could tell he was happy, the way they were twinkling, but he was sick, so they were a bit glazed over. Something new was in his green eyes, and it caused my stomach to knot.

**KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK** Someone rapped at the door.

"Who…" he asked, trailing off at the end as he shook his head. "I'll get it."

He began to put his shirt back on, when I realized what he was doing at put my hand over his to stop him. He looked down at me in confusion, his shirt tangled in his neck and arms.

"You'll get lotion all over it." I explained as I removed the fabric from his limbs. He thanked me again and padded off to the door.

"Ewmygawd! Edward!"I heard a sickeningly familiar voice squeal. Giggling in anticipation, I jogged clumsily to the door to see every minute of the upcoming show.

"Hello Meghan." Edward sighed tiredly. The red-head standing at the door was carrying a basket filled with oatmeal and calamine lotion.

"Edward! Are you sick?!? That's awful! Chicken pox, huh?!? I had them too! We should take a bath together!" she babbled on, making sure that everything she said ended in an exclamation point. At the bath suggestion, Edward's eyes widened and I swear I saw the back of his neck turn a faint pink. He turned around and mouthed for help desperately.

This would be good.

**Music Listened To:**

**Samson, The Call, and Music Box (all songs by Regina Spektor-it was just a Regina kind of day), some Chopin, Heels over Head (Boys Like Girls), Invisible (Taylor Swift), Love You Out Loud (Rascal Flatts), Want To (Sugarland), This Kiss (Faith Hill), If You Were Gay (Avenue Q), Sun On My Face (Sugar)**

**Oh, and someone mentioned that you don't vomit because of the chicken pox (thank you, by the way). I realized that a little bit after I posted it, by which time it was too late. I had figured out where I wanted the story to go after I wrote that, so we'll pretend that they shared a Chinese dish and got food poisoning. Better?**

**I've really got to stop these author's notes that are longer than the chapters, but this chapter is dedicated to MeghanCullen, who was amazing enough to step in for me when I lost my voice today. Thanks MeghanCullen! I appreciate it!**


	15. Chicken Pox or STD

"Oh! Bella! You have the chicken pox too! That's no fun!" Meghan squealed when she saw me. Truthfully, she perked down a notch when she saw me, but a notch for Meghan was only half an octave lower for the rest of the human race.

"Hey Meghan." I said warily. Edward relaxed a bit now that there was a witness present, and I heard him mumble something under his breath.

"Wait! Aren't you two…like…together?!?" she asked, holding her hands up in the universal stop symbol.

Edward and I looked at each other, and I almost lost it when I saw the quirk of a smile on his face.

"Something like that." Edward said wryly as he smiled.

"So you both have the chicken pox?!?" she stage whispered. Once again, Edward and I looked at each other, only this time, it was of vague concern for her metal well-being.

"Yes." I answered for the both of us, a little slower than normal.

"Ewmygawd!" She shrieked, tossing a lock of red hair across one shoulder as she dramatically clasped her hands over her heart.

"I'm sorry?" Edward asked hesitantly in confusion.

"I didn't know that chicken pox was an STD!!!" she shrieked.

"Wha…I'm sorry?"

"Excuse me?" Edward and I spoke at the same time, effectively conveying our confusion.

"Well…you know…you share a room, and you're…together…" She said, turning a faint pink color as her eyes remained wide. "So…it must be an STD if you both have it!"

"Wh-"

"Whoa! Eddie boy, I didn't know you had it in you! You sly dog!" Emmett hooted as he walked up the stairs, a handful of yellow plastic in his hands.

"Emmett." I groaned in recognition, hiding my face in embarrassment.

"Bel-la Swan! Are you glowing?" he teased as he came closer.

"Emmett, leave her alone. And don't come any closer, we wouldn't want you to be stuck with us too." Edward told him.

"Chill out Edward. I'm just coming to visit and try and fix this walkie-talkie. Besides," he said, ruffling Edward's hair as he squeezed past us. "I've had the chicken pox already."

"Ewmygawd!" Meghan shrieked again, her eyes widening to the point where I was afraid that they'd pop out of her head. "So Rosalie has had them too?!?"

"When she was like six." Emmett answered, not realizing how Meghan thought they were contracted.

"Ewmygawd!" She screamed, causing some random kid down the hall to hurriedly shove his key in his door and flee towards the safety of his room. Apparently, Meghan had more of a reputation than I thought.

Edward started chuckling and I soon followed.

"What the hell Edward?!? You were playing Two Truths and a Lie without me?!?" Emmett cried indignantly from the room, and I was soon gasping for breath. Edward wrapped his arm around me and I could feel his chest rumbling with silent laughter as well.

"I'm sorry Meghan, but I need to speak to my brother." Edward lied smoothly as soon as he could breathe. He pulled me back into the room and I saw Meghan, wide eyed and mouth agape (almost like a fish), just before the door shut.

"What's so funny?" Emmett asked suspiciously from his seat at the table, the piles of yellow plastic and multi-colored wires lying haphazardly around him. That started a whole new round of laughter and it was several minutes before we could answer him.

"Meghan thinks that the chicken pox is an STD." I gasped, causing Emmett's eyes to grow huge.

"So when I said Rose got it when she was six…" he trailed off suggestively.

"Yes." Edward answered him.

"Oh my god," he said, and for a moment I was afraid he was angry. "That was…the funniest thing I've heard all day!"

His booming laughter filled the room, and I giggled along too. I could hear Edward chuckling as he removed his arm from my waist and sat down at the table next to Emmett, taking the last chair. I would have felt awkward, if not for the convienient itching sensation from my shoulder. I grabbed the calamine lotion off the table and made my way into the bathroom, locking the tiny door before I slipped off my shirt. I gasped when I saw the ugly red dots that covered my neck and right shoulder.

"Bella? You alright?" Edward asked, knocking on the door.

"Hmmm?" I asked distractedly, too lost in my spot-induced daze to focus on what he was saying.

"Are you okay?" he repeated anxiously.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. "Just surprised. My neck is absolutely covered."

"Do you want any help?" he asked.

"No!" I blurted out, my eyes growing wide in fear.

"I'm sorry?" he said, obviously confused by my outburst.

"No, no I'm fine. Thanks anyway though." I assured him. My face was a bright red as I pictured Edward bursting into the bathroom only to discover that I wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Okay…"he said uncertainly, and I released a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Five minutes later, my shoulder was completely covered and my neck was simply a big pink blotch on my skin.

"Emmett, I just can't." Edward whispered. He sounded frustrated. Snooping and eavesdropping were never good things, but I didn't want to interrupt anything important, so I waited behind the door.

"Well you can't just leave things the way they are." Emmett argued, forgetting to whisper.

"Emmett, shut up. She might hear you." Edward shushed him halfheartedly.

"Maybe she needs to." He said. What didn't Edward want me to hear? It's not like he was hiding anything…wait a minute.

When he was asleep and holding me, he mumbled something about love. He must be in love with someone else. I bet he didn't want to tell me yet because he wasn't sure how to ask me to leave so she could move in. I had to leave for him. If I really…loved him, and I knew I did, I would have to let him go. I was selfish though, so I wouldn't bring it up until he did. At least that way I'd buy myself more time.

I took a deep breath and prepared to walk outside. I would just have to push my feelings aside.

**Music Listened To:**

**Untouched (The Veronica's), Somewhere Only We Know (Keane), Breathe (2 am) [Anna Nalick], Pumpkin Soup (Kate Nash), 4ever (The Veronica's), Just Dance (Lady Gaga), Rock & Roll (Eric Hutchinson), Brighter Than Sunshine (Aqualung)**

**Ok, so some of you might be getting frustrated with me. I'm sorry!!! I will try and update sooner, but it's hard. And to those of you who read my other stories, I'm going to TRY and update those either today or tomorrow. Emphasis on TRY. And this story is about to reach the point where Bella and Edward have to jump off the proverbial cliff and see if they fly or fall. Stay tuned to see which it is…**


	16. Only Child

I took a deep breath and counted to three before opening the door.

Emmett was leaning over Edward, one hand extended, while Edward was looking towards the windows with his eyes closed and a hand on the bridge of his nose. At the sound of the door, Emmett looked up.

"Oh. Hey Bella!" he said, straightening up awkwardly. "I was just convincing Eddie boy that we should still have Friday night. What do you think?"

He was a decent liar, I'd give him that much. But his eyes continued to dart from me to Edward, and his hand clenched into a fist every couple of seconds.

"It's Tuesday, Emmett." I said, eyeing him curiously before I sat down.

"Uh…Yeah. That was my point. You should be fine by then!" He said. He got points for enthusiasm, but he was still lying. And covering for lying. But I guess he was just looking out for me, so I wasn't too mad. I just…wanted to know the whole thing.

"Okay. Can we get pizza instead of Chinese this time though? Edward and I shared some chicken last time and got sick." I explained as I got into the mini fridge to get a water bottle.

"Sure, no problem. I'll see you guys later, then." Emmett said hurriedly before rushing to leave.

"Um, Em? Didn't you come here to fix the walkie-talkie?" I reminded him. His eyes widened and I could tell he was scrambling to think of an excuse. Edward was still glaring at him, for some reason.

"Oh, that. I…I…it, um…it's broken, you see," he stammered. "And so I need to…um…buy a new one! Yes, that's it, I'm going to go buy a new one!"

"OkayI'llseeyoulaterbye." He said as fast as humanly possible before racing out the door.

Edward was still glaring at the door, which made the whole situation even more awkward. I knew they were hiding something from me, especially Edward, and I was all but locked in the room with him until further notice. I prayed fervently that someone would come to save me. I was such a coward; I couldn't possibly confront Edward about what I heard. Especially now that I knew that I was in love with him. I could just picture how that conversation would end up. "Hey Edward, what are you hiding from me? Why do I care? Well, because I'm in love with you!"

"Oh my god." I heard someone breathe as the door slammed shut. I glanced at Edward, who was facing the door, before I turned around. His features had relaxed, but I could tell that he was still hiding something.

"Edward, I think Meghan is going into shock." Alice said as she danced into the room, towing a very fearful looking Jasper.

"Don't touch me." He warned cautiously as he came to stand in the room next to where Alice had plopped down on my bed.

"Oh, don't worry about him. He and I got the chicken pox booster yesterday and someone is a little over-cautious. I told him I couldn't see it happening, but he just wouldn't listen." Alice told us, shaking her head lovingly at her boyfriend.

"Hey, I really don't want to look like those two for the next two weeks!" he protested. Edward opened his mouth to protest, but glanced down at himself and shut his mouth as he nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, I ran into Meghan in the hallway. She was just wandering around muttering something about Emmett and a child. I didn't really get it." She said shrugging. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed the mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Well, that is, until I ran into Emmett."

Damn. We were never going to…

"We're never going to live this down, are we?" Edward asked as he looked towards the ceiling in defeat.

"Are you kidding me?!? After all the crap you and Emmett pulled on me when we were younger? Puh-lease!" Alice cried indignantly.

"You know, its times like these when I wish I was a social reject, like Newton." Jasper said to me as we watched the siblings bicker back and forth.

"…Shut up, Smelled-ward! I _told_ you not to climb that tree!"

"I'm not the one who put gum in Emmett's hair while he was sleeping, Fat-lice!"

"I'm an only child." I told him happily.

"Lucky." He muttered jealously, still keeping his distance.

"Guys. Guys. GUYS. GUYS!!!" Jasper boomed in an Emmett-esque baritone voice to call the siblings to attention. "We're calling it even."

"But-"

"Ah. No but's." He said firmly. The way he held himself, he reminded me of a military man calling his soldiers to arms.

"Fine." Alice mumbled angrily. "All I wanted to do was tell you that I caught two people making out in the hallway."

"Alice, Rose and Emmett make out everywhere." I told her consolingly.

"It wasn't Rosalie and Emmett." She said, perking up a bit.

"Then who…" I wondered aloud.

"Meghan and Newton." Edward finished for her, somewhat grimly.

"How did you…" I asked.

"I could hear them." He explained in disgust.

"Eww." We all shuddered in unison.

"Well, Jasper and I have to go with Rosalie and Emmett to get a new walkie-talkie." Alice announced before flouncing up. "C'mon Jazz. Bye guys!"

"Ugh." I groaned as I flopped down on my bed.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked curiously, lying down on his own bed.

"I'm so tired, and it's definitely too early to sleep." I yawned.

"A nap is never bad." He commented.

"A nap actually sounds perfect. Sorry for leaving you alone." I apologized, feeling guilty for wanting to sleep. Maybe he thought I was avoiding him…

"Nah, its fine. I've got to read anyway." He smiled, holding up a copy of a book that looked incredibly familiar.

"Wuthering Heights?" I asked somewhat excitedly.

"After our argument, I decided that maybe it was worth a second shot." He grinned at me. God, that crooked grin was so beautiful it was devastating.

"That's amazing!" I tried to sound awake, but I was just so tired all of a sudden.

"Sleep, Bella." Edward chuckled at me.

"Kay," I yawned. I thought of green eyes…

"_Bella, I've got to leave. It's the only way to keep you safe." A solemn looking Edward told me._

"_But Edward…you can't go." I argued pitifully._

"_I have to. You're important to all of us, but the wolves will eat you if we don't go." He explained sadly. As he mentioned, I saw a furry creature stalk closer to me out of the corner of my eye._

"_What about Alice? And Jasper? Rosalie and Emmett too?" I asked hopelessly, expecting the worst._

"_They've already left. You would have broken your arm if they didn't. A nice clean break…" he mused. _

_The wolf circled closer, only now I saw that it had a friend. I swear I saw blonde hair…_

"_Please." I begged, feeling a tear slip down my cheek._

"_Don't worry Bella, you're just a snack. Soon you'll be smiling back." He told me sadly. I looked at him in confusion before looking down. I gasped when I saw that my body was a giant orange cracker. I glanced around in panic to see that the wolves had become dangerously close. They were huge, and the faces of Meghan and Mike jeered at me. _

"_I l…I love you Edward." I said, choking back the tears._

"_Don't eat yourself." He warned sternly. I nodded, and he took a bite of my hand before leaving._

"_Edward, I love you." I cried in his wake. _

"Bella?" Someone called, waking me from my strange dream.

"Bella, I want to talk to you. We need to talk." Edward told me nervously. Oh god.

**Well? Next chapter is the free-fall. Tune in if you want to find out what happens! Oh, and no one missed the argument about the book. I made it up. So basically, when I skipped those two months, I skipped the argument too. ;) Sorry. Also, I'm too lazy to post songs I listened to. If you want my suggestions, just PM me or review and ask. I'll try and update soon!**


	17. Confusing and Confessing

"W-what?" I croaked. My throat was dry and thick with sleep, and despite my nerves, I found myself incredibly tired.

"Ca…Can we talk?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I guess so." I yawned, covering my mouth. I glanced at the clock and saw the glowing _6:28_ mocking me. It was much too early to fake falling asleep again, and it was twilight. No good for hiding blushes and hurt feelings.

He was going to leave. I could tell. His hair was mussed, so he had been running his hands through it. He had been thinking about something for a while.

His nose was pink, which meant he had been pinching the bridge of his nose. He was frustrated with something inevitable about his decision.

And the least obvious. He wouldn't meet my eyes, and his fingers were pulling on the cuff of his sweatshirt. He was…scared. Edward. The Edward Cullen was scared. This one confused me. What did Edward have to be frightened of? It's not like I was going to put up a fuss or anything. I'd go and figure out how to switch with whoever Edward wanted to move in.

He sank down onto the bed, letting his elbows rest on his knees. His fingers drummed out taciturn melodies on the bed sheets at an incredibly high speed. I sat next to him, mirroring his stare down at his bulletin board of pictures from our past escapades. I moved my feet onto the bed, wrapping my arms around my knees and curling up into a little ball as I reminisced.

There was a picture of Emmett lying on the ground, flat on his stomach, while the other four of us piled on top. Rosalie was standing at the very top, squishing poor Alice with her stiletto heels, but looking very high school with her hands on her hips.

Another one showed Jasper asleep on top of an open history book. There were empty cola cans and coffee mugs scattered around, and Emmett had taken the liberty of writing on his forehead. The poor guy made it all the way through his history test before realizing what Emmett had done.

Alice, Rosalie, and I starred in the next one, clad in eighties work-out wear. Our faces were caked with blue eye shadow and fuchsia lipstick, and our hair was up in high side ponytails. We had had a girl's day in, and the empty cartons of Ben & Jerry's behind us clashed with the blue glow of the television and the Pilates mats. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had so much ice cream…

My favorite one was in the middle. We had been walking back from a major football game with our school's rival team, all six of us clad in our school's red and white colors. Our backs were to the camera, and we were stepping into the sunset. Emmett was holding hands with Rosalie. Alice was looking up at Jasper adoringly, who was guiding her around a puddle. And I was riding piggyback on Edward after someone had pushed me down the last step of the bleachers. My ankle had to be wrapped up tightly, and Edward hadn't wanted me to walk. But to the average person, it looked like the perfect romantic ending to the perfect romantic movie.

"I love that picture." Edward commented quietly. I chanced a glance over at him and saw him staring reverently at the same picture.

"Me too," I agreed softly. I felt that if we got any louder, the comfortable atmosphere would shatter into a million tiny pieces.

"Bella?"

"Edward?"

We laughed nervously, for neither of us quite knew how to react with the newly awkward silence. While speaking in unison would have normally garnered a laugh, we merely sat in silence, fiddling with our hands.

"There's…there's something I've wanted to tell you for a while now, but I've never been able to find the right way to say it." Edward confessed slowly, as if he was picking each word carefully.

He turned to face me, and I saw how apprehensive he was. I unwrapped my arms from my legs and moved so that I was facing him right back. One of his hands lay clenched on my bed, and the veins were protruding from his pale flesh.

"You can tell me anything," I assured him. Tentatively, I reached down and slid my hand on top of his. I was so used to the electricity by now that it seemed like such a common thing. His hand relaxed, his fingers splaying out onto the comforter underneath mine. He sucked in a deep breath and abruptly flipped his hand, intertwining it with mine. With a pang, I realized just how much I felt for him. Because we fit. His large cool hand with his pale, slender fingers fit perfectly with the short stubby fingers on my warm hand.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked solemnly. I gasped at how dark his eyes were, but slowly nodded.

"I've been avoiding…something…for a long time." He started, hid gaze turning down to our hands. "And I can't resist…it…anymore."

My heart was slowly sinking, but I tried to put on a brave face for Edward. "Its okay, Edward. I know exactly what you're trying to say."

"You do?" He gasped, looking up into my eyes.

"Well, yeah. If you wanted someone else to move in, I can just find someone else to live with. Maybe I'll switch with whoever you want to move in…" I trailed off at the sight of his murderous black eyes.

"You think…that I want you to move out…because I want some other girl…more?" He repeated with a bitter sarcastic tone.

I was too frightened to speak, so I merely nodded, trying especially hard to keep my jaw from unhinging.

"Bella…" He growled, hiding his face in his hands, despite the fact that he still clung to one of mine tightly.

"Am I wrong?" I asked quietly, too afraid to say anything else that would set him off.

"Bella," he said again, more gently. He looked up at me through the hair hanging in his face with his jade eyes glowing. "There is nothing in this world I want more than you."

"Wh-w-wha-what?" I gasped, stumbling over syllables. I must have been dreaming. This was all another crazy dream, ad I'd wake up to see Edward making out with Meghan in the corner while Mike leered at me. That made more sense than whatever this was.

"Bella, I've been too afraid of ruining our friendship or making living together awkward to say how I've really felt." He confessed earnestly, the words pouring out of his mouth like honey. I looked down, still trying to decipher if this was reality. Edward must have grown impatient of that, for he disentangled our hands and moved his to the sides of my face, tilting my head up so that I was forced to look at him.

"The truth is…I love you." He murmured softly, his thumb rubbing tiny circles onto my cheek.

"Edward…" I breathed, too afraid of saying anything else and ruining the dream. I was vaguely aware that my eyes were filling with tears, but I didn't care.

"Edward." I said again, a bit more strongly. "I don't care if this is a dream or not."

He grinned that damned crooked grin of his and I mentally swooned.

"I love you." I confessed. His breathing stilled and his eyes glazed over.

"Edward?" I asked, concerned.

"Say it again." He demanded a moment later as he shook his head slightly. His emerald eyes begged me and his mouth was taunting me, turning into a little smile at the end. I couldn't deny him anything.

"I love you, Edward." I whispered. He skipped a breath and broke out into the biggest grin I had ever seen before.

"God, Bella, I love you so much. Isabella Marie Swan, I love you." He said forcefully as his thumb carefully swept away any tears that had slipped out of my eyes.

"And I love you, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen." I choked out. He smiled at me, though it was blurry, and I grinned a watery smile right back at him.

**OH MY GAWD!!! We hit 1000 reviews!!! Actually, we hit over 1000 reviews. And I want to thank you guys so much for following this story and reviewing, because it means so much to me. Mwah! **

**No, this story is not over yet. Think of this as the climax. We still need the falling action. ;)**

**And in other majorly cool news, Shine On My Way has begun to translate this story into French! How sweet is that? If you want to check it out, go to her profile. **

**Music Listened To:**

**When You Say You Love Me (Josh Groban), A Kiss to Build a Dream On (Louis Armstrong), Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid), Can You Feel The Love Tonight (The Lion King), Ev'rybody Wants To Be A Cat (The Aristocats), I'm Your Man (Michael Bublé), Boogie Shoes (KC and The Sunshine Band), Come What May (Moulin Rouge), I Could Not Ask For More (Edwin McCain), **

**And whoever said they would give me cookies…I want them. **


	18. Bittersweet Dreaming

_Previously…_

"_And I love you, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen." I choked out. He smiled at me, though it was blurry, and I grinned a watery smile right back at him. _

"I was thinking…" Edward said a moment later. My tears had dried, and we had lain down on my bed, just snuggling. One of his arms was wrapped around my waist and the other was underneath my neck while he played with my hair. I held the hand resting on my stomach and traced random designs on the palm.

"Well, that's a start." I teased. His chest rumbled in laughter, and I giggled at the ticklish way it felt.

"There's something I want to try." He said, looking down at me through his dark eyelashes.

"Okay." I whispered my consent as I felt the mood shift. His gaze flickered back and forth between my eyes and my lips, and I realized in that second that Edward was going to kiss me. I felt my eyes slowly close and I tilted my head up, anticipating his lips on mine.

As soon as his lips touched me, it felt like I was on fire. Every nerve in my body was being shorted out and shocking me as his warm lips pressed against mine. My heart skipped a beat and my breathing was rushed, but there was no way I was pulling away from my new-found heaven. Unfortunately, Edward realized that I was growing desperate for air and pulled away.

I gasped for the much-needed oxygen and mourned the lack of contact while Edward grinned at me blissfully. His hands cradled my face and his thumbs were smoothing invisible patterns on my cheekbones.

"Bella?" He asked, sounding much farther away than he was. He began to fade and the edges of the room began to grow fuzzy…

"Edward? What's wrong?" I asked, quickly growing more frantic. He continued to fade until he was merely a ghost. "Edward? What's happening?"

"Bella…" he whispered as he grew entirely invisible.

"Edward? Edward? Where did you go? This isn't funny, Edward!" I said, getting up and standing in the middle of the room as I looked around for him. "You're scaring me."

"Bella!" Someone called. I whirled around to see whoever it was and came face to face with none other than Meghan.

"Edward was never yours. He never will be." She gloated evilly. I noticed how her teeth had morphed into sharp little fangs and her eyes were a pitch black. "He doesn't love you."

I was too frightened to speak. I could feel my feet shuffling slowly backwards as my body tried to flee, but for every step I took, Meghan glided forward two more.

"I mean, how could he? How could anyone fall in love with someone so clumsy and plain?" She hissed menacingly as her dark eyes narrowed.

With one last step, my legs touched the back of Edward's bed. I was finally trapped, and there was nothing I could do.

"Poor, lonely Bella," she growled before she pounced. I screamed and saw her lunging in the air in slow motion, just like in those awful horror movies. I saw my short life flashing before my eyes, saw my mother and father, saw Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, and Edward…

"Bella!"

With a start, my eyes snapped open and I shot up out of bed. I was covered in a cold sweat and I was entirely twisted in my blankets. Tears were streaming down my face and I whimpered a bit, still scared from my nightmare.

"Bella," a voice whispered in relief. It sounded awfully close, and that reminded me too much of the confusing dream. I shut my eyes, not wanting to see who it was in case it was Meghan.

"Bella, it's okay. Everything's fine. It was just a dream." The voice cooed soothingly. I was still to afraid to peek and see who it was, so my eyes remained shut. I brought my knees up and wrapped my arms around them, resting my head on the soft fabric of my blanket.

The voice sighed, and I heard the bed creak as whoever it was sat down on the edge. They scooped me up in their arms and pulled me close to their chest, rubbing my back and whispering soothing words into my ear.

A few minutes passed, and my tears slowed until they were non-existent. I wiped them off and took a deep breath, preparing myself to see anyone looking back at me. I shifted so that I could look at whoever had comforted me and was confronted with a dim view of Edward's glorious face.

"Edward?" I asked, still a bit disorientated from the strange and unsettling dream.

"Yeah, it's me." He said softly, peering into my eyes.

"I'm sorry about…this." I apologized quietly, gesturing to myself. "This usually doesn't happen."

"Don't apologize, Bella." Edward said. As my eyes grew adjusted to the dark, I realized something was missing.

"Edward, where are your chicken pox?" I asked curiously. I tugged at his hand that was wrapped around my waist and glanced at the smooth skin from his hand up to his arm. Nothing. I did I quick check of his chest too, just to be sure. Nothing.

"What chicken pox?" He asked. "Bella, are you feeling alright?"

I was stunned. Too stunned to answer, apparently, so as Edward checked my forehead for a temperature, I sat silently with my mouth opened.

"You feel hot, Bella. I think you have the flu." Edward said worriedly.

"It was a dream," I murmured. "It was all a dream."

"What was a dream?" he asked, his concern evident. "What are you talking about Bella?"

"What time is it?" I asked on a whim.

"I dunno. 2:58?" He said after quickly glancing at the clock.

"I just had the weirdest dream _ever_. I threw up, and then you threw up, and then we slept together, and then your father found us, and then had the chicken pox, and Meghan came, and Emmett, and walkie-talkies…Oh my god, Edward Cullen, did you give me crack?" I said, realizing how stupid and crazed I sounded.

"We _slept_ together?!? Why wasn't I aware of this?" Edward asked. If I hadn't known him well, I would have thought he was serious. But the corner of his right eye was crinkling, so he was hiding a smile.

"Shut up. I meant we _fell_ asleep together. And you completely avoided my question." I told him, feeling more of the nausea from earlier.

"No Bella, no one gave you crack. But you are a bit warm. Do you feel sick?" He asked.

"A little," I said, still trying to wrap my head around this new information. "Wait. What day is it?"

"It's Friday…well, I guess now Saturday morning. We just had our annual Friday night get-together." He said as he peered at my face. "You sure you're feeling okay?"

**PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!! After much careful consideration, I wrote this chapter. Some of you will not be happy, and some of you will. But this way, we get to see some more missing moments. This was unexpected, even to me, but it was the way Edward and Bella seemed to want it to go. **_**I'm sorry!**_

**Also, part of my inspiration for the Meghan in this dream came from the seventh Harry Potter and a horcrux. I won't say anymore to avoid ruining it for people, but if you know what I'm talking about, picture the **_**girl**_** as Meghan. **

**Music Listened To:**

**I Could Not Ask For More (Edwin McCain), I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (Aerosmith), Drops of Jupiter (Train), Heartbreak World (Matt Nathanson), Shine (Take That), Grace Kelly (Mika), Catch My Disease (Ben Lee), Hey Stephen (Taylor Swift), Lollipop (Mika), Lucky (Jason Mraz), Tango Maureen (RENT)**


	19. Coming To Grips

**Warning: MONDO Author's Note down at the bottom. It's probably bigger than this chapter, actually…**

"…and I swear, Alice, it was the most realistic dream I have ever had." I told her in hushed tones. It had been a few hours since I had my entire world turned upside down, and I was still trying to figure everything out. Currently, Alice and I were locked in the bathroom as I confessed everything.

"So you're telling me that you had this massive dream about your life for the next two months?" Alice asked, summing up what I had told her.

"Yes." I admitted. I hadn't been able to meet her eyes as I told my story, choosing to hold my head in the palms of my hands and clench my hair with my fingers.

"Wow…" She breathed as she sunk down onto the edge of the bathtub. The toilet where I was perched was too close to everything, so I was jolted when one of her tiny knee's brushed mine.

"Alice, I feel like a basket case. It's like I'm an amnesiac or something." I told her, growing frustrated with my mind for not being able to find the distinction between the dream and reality.

As soon as I realized what happened, I began convincing Edward that everything was fine and coerced him to go to sleep. He hadn't really believed me, that much I could tell, but he was tired enough to comply. He was under the impression that I had gone to sleep, when in reality, I had waited until I was sure he was asleep so that I could ransack the room.

I spent three hours going through the contents of my desk drawer, and came to three conclusions.

Number One: It was September. Three weeks had passed since I had come to this university.

Number Two: Everyone I met was still here. Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Mike, Meghan, Edward. There were pictures to prove it, though they weren't the pictures I had loved so much. Jasper had never fallen asleep with writing on his face, the football games didn't start for another week, and I had never even really seen where the third picture was taken.

Number Three: Despite the fact that I now knew so little about Edward, my mind still wanted to screw with me. I still loved him for no reason at all.

"Bella?" Alice asked softly after a few moments. I lifted my head to look at her with my red rimmed eyes, praying she wasn't going to call me crazy. "Do you still love him?"

She never came out and said it, but I knew. She believed me. She understood me. And despite the fact that she had only known me for three weeks, she was going to stick with me.

"Yes." I whispered pitifully. Leave it to Alice to call me out on the worst one of my discoveries. And that's where I broke down.

Thankfully, seeing as Edward was waiting for us to be done doing whatever he thought we were doing, I didn't make much noise. The tears were silent, and Alice was quiet as she held me.

"Alice, I'm sorry." I sniffled once I could speak.

"Why?" She asked.

"You must hate me. I'm claiming that I'm in love with your brother when I really don't know him well at all." I told her, laughing humorlessly at how pathetic I sounded.

"Aw Bella, I could never hate you. Your fashion sense, now that's another story." She told me, earning a giggle. "But I think I can sort of understand in a weird way."

"You can?" I asked hopefully.

"I think so. I mean, I've never really been able to remember my dreams, but the one's I can remember throw me for a loop. And the only reason I ever talked to Jasper was because I had a dream about him." She confessed with a faraway smile on her face.

"Really? Alice, that's so romantic." I told her.

"It kinda is, isn't it?" She grinned at me like the Cheshire Cat. "Actually, most of the things in your dream Edward are close to the real Edward-except for the sleep talking. He's a really deep sleeper. Emmett and I thought he was dead one time when we were little."

"No way!" I gasped, laughing when I realized that she was being serious.

She smiled wickedly at me, and my laughs began to quiet. "So…a heart-stopping kiss?"

"Alice…" I whined. I was finally coming to grips with everything and I didn't want to delve into the serious and confusing.

"Was it?" She persisted. I shot her a look, and she feigned innocence.

"Yes Alice, it was." I groaned. She beamed triumphantly in response.

"Well then?" She said joyously, as if the answer was obvious.

"Well what, Alice?" I asked suspiciously.

"Maybe…maybe you should try something." She suggested. I stared blankly and she continued. "If you both wanted it then…maybe you both want it now. I mean, it wouldn't be an "I-Love-You" kiss, but it would probably be just the same."

"No." I shot down her idea instantly and firmly, growing red at the mere thought.

"But Bella," Alice plead, looking at me with those damn puppy eyes. "You two waited so long to do anything about your feelings and spent that time being miserable. Yes, it was a dream, but maybe that was your mind warning you of what was going to happen if you really did bottle up those emotions."

"But what if he doesn't want me now?" I asked quietly as I mused over her wise words.

"Bella, I can't tell you what the right or wrong thing to do is. But I can tell you that I can't honestly think of a reason Edward wouldn't want you. He's attracted to you physically," She said softly, and I flushed a rosy pink. "And he thinks you're very smart and funny and nice. The rest is up to you."

"Ugh." I groaned as I let my head fall into my hands. "Alice, I think my life sucks right now."

"Maybe right now, but it'll get better. I can tell." She told me optimistically. "Just think about what I said."

"I will." I promised. We rose and stretched as much as possible in the tiny bathroom. "And Alice?"

"Yeah Bells?" She said as she snapped her head around and looked at me with those big doe eyes.

"Thanks. I needed a friend." I told her, trying to convey my appreciation.

"Anytime." She promised with a wink.

**Music Listened To****:**

**Over My Head (Cable Car) [The Fray], Let Love In (The Goo Goo Dolls), Friend Like Me (Aladdin), What Is This Feeling? (Wicked the Musical), Suddenly Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors), What Do You Do With A B.A. In English (Avenue Q), You Got A Friend In Me (Toy Story)**

**Clarification Time (or better known as lets make sure the author isn't crazy)!!!**

**#1 Question Asked: **_**What?!? What happened?!? I'm so confused!!!**_

**I didn't respond to any of these before because I figured I'd just explain them all at once. Basically, Edward is back to square one, but Bella isn't. **_**It is Bella's third week there**_**. No, they were never sick. No, Meghan was never a giant snake. No, Bella and Edward haven't confessed their undying love for each other. The entire group is just beginning to form traditions and rituals, thus the newly christened "Annual" Friday night dinners. They've really only happened three times, but Emmett decided they were amazing and dubbed them a tradition. **_**In short, Bella and Edward still barely know each other. Yes, they are most definitely friends, but they are nowhere near as close as they were. **_

**#2: **_**Are they still going to fall in love?**_

**Only time will tell, chickadee's. ;)**

**#3: **_**This isn't the end, is it?**_

**No, this story still has some more to tell.**

**#4: **_**Does Bella still talk in her sleep?**_

**Yes, Bella still talks in her sleep. That's why Edward woke her up (she was mumbling and thrashing and crying). **

**#5: **_**Why'd you do it? Did you just run out of plot or something?**_

**Honestly? No, I didn't plan this at first. But I was re-reading this story at some point during the beginning of their illness (and cringing. I really was an awful writer at the start of this.), and I felt like this story was incomplete. If I just epilogue-ed after their confession, then you'd be missing the real starting blocks of the relationships. And not just Bella and Edward's, but the entire group dynamic, not to mention the possible school pressures. So I was writing the sick chapters and trying to make them a tad bit OOC, just like the confession. You have to admit, it felt a little OOC, didn't it? So yes and no, it was and wasn't planned. But this Oreo of a story was missing its creamy middle (which, in my opinion is the best part), and I needed to fix that. (By the way, that was not intended to be racist in one bit, please don't take offense. I was just using an analogy to milk's favorite cookie ********)**

**Thank you for telling me honestly what your opinions were. The reviews were mixed, as some were ecstatic and others were upset, but I was expecting that. Don't forget to review, and if there are any more questions, PM me. A bientôt! **

***Bella is very distressed, yes. No, I don't believe she's over-reacting. Think about it this way. You just had this crazy, vibrant dream. You wake up. You go about your day, telling people about how weird this dream was, until your day starts getting weirder. You wake up **_**for real**_**. You realize that you never really did any of these things you thought you did, and you're kind of shell-shocked because you **_**thought**_** you were genuinely awake for some of it. It takes you a while to come to grips with the real reality, and not the one that the dream world had supplied you. This happened to me yesterday, actually, so I can relate. And yes, this is probably unrealistic, but this is FANFICTION!!! Anything can happen. Edward can be a gay unicorn, for Pete's sake, so Bella can be a little emotional in mine. So there :P ! **


	20. Bad Day

"No, no, no!" I mumbled as I tried to hit the elevator button faster, desperately hoping that it would make the doors open sooner. My class started in three minutes, and seeing as a certain pixie had decided it was best to forcibly shove me into a salon chair and smear God-knows-what all over my face, I was late.

"I could be taking the stairs, but no!" I muttered sarcastically as I glared at the monstrosities on my feet. Technically, they were just one inch heels, but they were not the flats I was wearing when I left my room. The jeans on my legs were too expensive, and the shirt was too tight, and Alice was…Alice.

"God, today is not my day!" I said under my breath when the door opened and revealed a very chipper Mike Newton.

"Hey babe-I mean, Bella. Sorry, it was a slip of the tongue!" He apologized, sounding as if he was on his fifth cup of coffee. It was immensely annoying, considering it wasn't even eight o'clock yet.

"Morning, Mike." I sighed as I smacked the button for floor three.

"So didja hear? Professor Greene is going to give a pop-quiz today in environmental and if you score high enough, you get out of the test! And I was telling that to Meghan this morning, and then she asked me out, and isn't that great? And then I saw this cloud that looked like a hamster, and it reminded me of my hamster when I was little…" Mike babbled on and on for the entirely too long elevator ride.

As soon as the doors slid open, I darted away as fast as possible. Which for me was an awful idea, because my bag snagged on something and split open. Pencils and papers flew everywhere, and my sole textbook fell to the ground with a resounding thud.

"Wonderful." I spat angrily at the withered corpse of my bag. I began to scoop as much as I could into my arms before grabbing my textbook and jogging to my next class…

…that decided to be held in the opposite end of the school building. When I had finally arrived, my professor glared at me from her podium as I clumsily eased my way into my seat. I took as many notes as I could in the half hour we had left, and when class was over, I had to explain why I was late to the professor. She was less than pleased, but thankfully, gave me a warning and let me off.

I began walking to my math class, which, rather unfortunately was mandatory for all freshman, as I tried to arrange my papers into some semblance of organization. But of course, I couldn't do one simple thing without it failing miserably.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" The man yelled at me as he passed on by. I was on the ground, watching for the second time today as my things fell to the ground.

I sucked in a breath and heaved myself off the ground, taking note of the rip in Alice's expensive jeans. I picked up my things with an annoying case of déjà vu and continued onto my class.

Professor Varner decided to choose today for a pop quiz. And it was just my luck that the night before I had chosen to study for Spanish instead of reviewing my math, so I had no idea what I was doing. Then, he decided that I needed to be spoken to privately about my grade, which was appalling low.

"Peachy. Just peachy," I muttered angrily as I stormed out of the classroom.

The sounds of my cell phone ringing in my back pocket reminded me that I was probably late in meeting Rosalie to work on an anatomy project.

"Hello?" I answered breathlessly as I attempted to run through campus faster.

"Hey Bella. I was just calling because I can't work on our project tonight…" Rosalie said guiltily.

"That's fine." I said happily as I stopped running.

"And…" She trailed off.

"And?" I asked hesitantly.

"And I won't be able to work with you at all, actually. I'm sorry Bella, it's just that I know that Professor Stanley is incredibly hard with grading, especially on group projects, so I switched to biology instead. I'm sorry, and I know its late notice-"

"It's fine, Rosalie." I sighed, effectively cutting off her groveling. "I'll just work with someone else."

"Are you sure?" She asked tentatively. Rosalie and I hadn't gotten nearly as close as Alice and I had, so she was probably unsure of my reactions.

"Yeah, it's fine." I said before murmuring a goodbye. I sighed deeply before running down a list of scenarios in my head. If I called around, I could find a group to work with and not be forced to switch classes or take an incomplete. _Calling it is…_

I spent the next hour seated at the only table left the closest coffee house to campus, calling anyone I could think of. By the time I packed up, I was paired with some chick named Jessica who never stopped talking, it was pouring outside, and a little boy had spilled his hot chocolate all over my pale yellow shirt.

Wonderful.

When I finally opened the door to our dorm, I was soaking wet and ready to eat my weight in the ice cream I had stashed in the mini-freezer.

"Holy SHIT!" Emmett hollered through a mouthful of ice cream as he jumped out of his seat. He sputtered and choked until he was able to swallow while I glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here, Emmett. Your turn," I said coolly. I was one step away from breaking down completely, and that was not a pretty sight.

"Newton ate all our food and I got banned from my room for the rest of the day for kicking his ass. Edward told me I could chill here and left to go get food." He said, still wide-eyed from his choking experience. "But he said you had something with Rosalie going on, so we didn't order you anything."

"That's okay, Emmett." I sighed for the umpteenth time. "I'm just going to get changed."

I emerged from the bathroom slightly collected and mostly dry, in a pair of sweatpants that could have fit even Emmett and a cotton t-shirt that had served as my gym shirt in high school.

"Hey Bells? Someone called for you. That lady down at the front desk wants to speak with you." Emmett told me loudly through a mouthful of some more ice cream. _God, did that look good…_

"Kay. Thanks Em," I mumbled as I slipped on a pair of flip-flops and shuffled down to the elevator.

I knew that it was a bad sign when the woman at the front desk had been glaring at me from the moment I got off of the elevator.

"Isabella Swan?" She asked acidly.

"Yes, ma'am." I said politely.

"Since I am serving as the faculty dorm advisor, it is my duty to deal with situations that have gotten out of hand. It has come to my attention that you and your room-mate, Mr. Cullen, have been…involved. And that is very much against the rules at this university, Miss Swan." She said smugly. I grew red, an equal mix of embarrassment and anger boiling over onto my face.

"Excuse me, Mrs…Cope." I hissed angrily. "Edward and I are friends, as a result of being roommates. We have never been anything more. But the students at this school love to gossip and create rumors, and what you have heard is a direct product of those students. I can assure you that Edward and I have never had…relations… and are doing nothing wrong. I would appreciate it if you would examine where you have gotten your information from before going further."

"Well, then…hmm…well," She sputtered for a moment or two before cooling down. "I will look into this further, and I apologize if this has offended you in any way."

"Thank you." I said calmly before walking off. I fought tears the entire elevator ride up as I reflected on my horrible day and how embarrassed I had been. I was also still reeling in shock that I had been able to fight back for myself like that.

I slammed the door after me as I walked in, and Edward and Emmett looked up at me with identical expressions: wide eyes, mouths stuffed full of noodles, and hands clasped around white Chinese boxes.

I said nothing as I stalked to my bed and flopped face-down on my soft pillow. I heard Emmett say something unintelligible to Edward as a chair scraped across the floor.

"PMS…" I caught him say as he stuck his feet into his shoes. I scrambled to my feet and I stuck an accusatory finger at him. He held his hands up as if I was going to shoot him didn't move as I began my assault.

"No Emmett, I'm _not_ PMSing. I've just had a really bad day. Alice made me late and forced me to wear clothes I didn't want to wear, and then I had to stand in an elevator with Mike Newton after he had _coffee_! And then my bag broke and I had to pick it all up, and I was late to class, and then I had to explain to my teacher that I'm a clumsy _moron_ who can't even walk on a flat surface. Then some guy ran into me on the way out and I dropped my stuff _again_, and when I finally got to Calc, we had a pop quiz and my professor talked to me about how much I SUCK at it. And then your girlfriend bailed on me, and some kid spilled his food on me, and I have to work with some random girl who never shuts up! It rained, and I got wet, and _you_! YOU ATE MY ICE CREAM! And then that woman at the front desk accused me of being a sex fiend, because I apparently can't keep my hands off Edward! So _excuse me_ for my lack of cheeriness for the moment, DAMNNIT!" I shouted at him. He stood there with his mouth open and his eyes wide, just looking at me. When he finally shut his gaping mouth, he mumbled an apology before scurrying out of the door as fast as possible.

I hadn't even realized that I had been crying until Edward tentatively wrapped his arms around me and I noticed that his shirt was getting wet.

"My life sucks." I sobbed angrily against his shirt. He chuckled and rubbed his hands soothingly up and down my back.

"If it's any consolation, I think you scared the living daylights out of Emmett." He commented. I laughed weakly before apologizing and breaking away from our embrace.

"I think I'm going to go buy some ice-cream." I whispered as I dried my eyes.

"You do that." Edward chuckled.

**So, since I had an awful day Friday, so did Bella. This was basically me writing off steam, so I apologize if it seems a little choppy. Emmett and Bella would also like to apologize for their language. Bella was having a bad day and Emmett…well, Emmett is just Emmett.**

**Oh, and I'm still not sure if ice cream helps. We ran out…and I cried. ******** That was a bad, bad day…**

**I'm better now, though, so no worries. No music for this chapter, cause I have to go do awful math homework that I will ultimately fail at anyway (Bella and I have a mutual hatred for math). Review and give me an excuse to procrastinate!!! ;)**


	21. Happy Birthday

"We're going clubbing, we're going clubbing, we're going _clubbing!!!_" Emmett chanted excitedly as he danced around the elevator wearing a ridiculous party hat.

"Emmett…just shut up." Jasper sighed as he pounded his head against the walls. I sympathized with him. We were all stuck on an elevator with matching party hats and grim expressions, save for Emmett. It was a Monday night, and we were going _clubbing_.

"Em, couldn't this have waited until _Friday_?" Alice asked pointedly as she adjusted her party hat in the reflection from the ceiling.

"Hell no! TODAY is my birthday, not Friday! We must celebrate the day I was born _on_ the day I was born!" I don't think Emmett had any idea of his vocal resonance, because Alice's earrings starting vibrating.

"More like mourn…" Edward muttered. I snickered, but stopped at the deathly glare that Emmett shot me.

I think Rosalie was the only one enjoying this, even if solely because Emmett bought her a new dress as a present to himself. As chauvinistic as it was, it won Rosalie over and determined our plans for Monday. Emmett was a crafty guy.

"Can we keep this short? Alice and I have Bio at eight tomorrow morning." I begged.

"Rosie and I don't have classes until three tomorrow afternoon, so we're going to be late. I suppose I'll be nice and let you leave at eleven." Emmett said.

"Ten thirty," I bargained.

"Eleven fifteen." He shot back.

"Ten forty," I returned his volley as I stood on my tiptoes to look him in the eye.

"Ten forty-five and we each take a shot." He proposed, with a look that told me he was going no lower.

"Fine." I agreed coolly. Alice and Rosalie looked triumphant and Jasper was nonchalant, but Edward was none too happy.

"What's wrong? I just bought us fifteen minutes?" I asked exasperatedly. He was the stupid one who had a class at seven in the morning tomorrow.

"You haven't had one of Emmett's shots." Edward sighed.

"I haven't had any alcohol, ever. My dad is a chief of police, remember?" I reminded him. The blood drained from his face and his eyes grew to a dark black.

"Shit." He swore. Edward never swore. Ever. This was only the third curse word I'd ever heard pass his lips. The first time was when Alice leapt to his bed when he was trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep and she landed on a…sensitive…area. The second happened to be when he was imitating Emmett.

"It's just one shot. Besides, there's a first time for everything…right?" My voice grew weaker and weaker as his glare turned more and more murderous.

"Bella and I are staying till eleven, no shots." Edward declared as the elevator dinged. He dragged me off with him to get our table amidst Emmett's noisy complaints.

"What is your problem?" I snapped as soon as I was shoved into a seat next to the madman. My feet were complaining, thanks to the beautiful but painful heels Alice had coerced me into wearing. I was careful to pull my black dress down, because the length left little to the imagination.

"I refuse to be responsible for getting you drunk the first time you drink, especially underage." Edward growled.

"Edward, I highly doubt-"

"Like I said, you've never had one of Emmett's shots." Edward promised darkly.

"Well what about you? You're underage too!" I protested. This stupid protective crap he had been spouting lately was getting on my nerves.

"Bella, I grew up with Emmett. If someone told him not to do something, he would try it as soon as they weren't looking. If it was bad, he convinced me to do it." Edward explained. I rolled my eyes and chose to ignore him.

He was getting to be obnoxious. Everything that I did was analyzed for safety. _Bella, are you sure you want to walk to the bookstore? Bella, I don't think you should talk to Mike Newton. He's not good enough for you._ One more thing and I was going to explode.

Thank God the rest of the night went smoothly. Dinner and the club were just as expected. Nothing of importance happened, except for the fact that Emmett got himself kicked out because he nearly pummeled the bartender for "dissin' my drink, dawg!". We were all allowed to leave at ten, seeing as Emmett insured we had no where else to go.

"Alice, will you come back to our dorm and help me get this goop off my eyelashes?" I requested through a yawn in the taxi on the way back.

"Sure thing Bells." She responded sleepily. We were exhausted, thanks in part to the fact that Emmett had woken us all up before dawn so that we could sing him happy birthday on the exact time of his birth.

Alice, Edward, Jasper, and I were crammed into the back of what seemed to be New York's tiniest cab. Alice had resorted to sitting on Jasper's lap and I was all but falling onto Edward every time the cab lurched.

"I'm tired." I yawned as I leaned my head onto Alice's lap. She assented with a sleepy groaning noise that I would have never expected to come out of such a tiny body. I allowed my eyes to slip closed and snuggled in, letting my legs drape over Edward's lap. He was kind enough to rest his arm over them, keeping me from falling off during turns or sudden stops.

The next thing I knew, something was carrying me out of the cab and into the building. What, or more like who ever it was smelled divine. I curled in closer to the warm body, trusting them.

I could vaguely tell that someone was slipping off my shoes and pulling the elastic out of my hair, but I was too focused on the fact that I was on a soft, familiar bed.

"Bella, you need to let go," The voice whispered as they gently pried my fingers away from their collar. I simply held on that much tighter, refusing to let go. They were warm and soft and oh so comfortable, so they were going to stay.

Finally, they sank down next to me. I heard a thud, which I assumed were shoes, and felt the bed jostle as they laid down. I tucked my body into their chest and burrowed deeper into the blankets surrounding me.

There was the click of the light switch and a slight pressure on my head, and then there were only the sounds of two people breathing in tandem. By now I had realized that the person was a man, and that the likelihood of it being Edward was incredibly high.

But I didn't care.

I was sick of trying to stay away from him.

**Music Listened To****:**

**Sway (Michael Bublé), Me Love (Sean Kingston), Paranoid (Jonas Brothers) **_Shut up. It's a guilty pleasure._** Broken Strings (James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado), Wonderful World (James Morrison), If U See Amy (Britney Spears)**_ Another guilty pleasure. _**Dark Blue (Jack's Mannequin), Under Control (Parachute), Don't Trust Me (3oh!3) **_Guiltiest pleasure EVER!!!_

**So, you all are probably very frustrated with my writing/posting schedule. I totally understand that, as I read stories too. My very favorite stories are usually the ones who update less often (just my luck, right?). **

**But think about it. **

**The more time spent writing, the better the update is going to be. The better the update, the better the story, and the more satisfying it's going to be. So PLEASE be patient with me. I write in my very few minutes of free time, and post when I can. If you leave a review telling me that no matter how good of a writer I am, you're going to stop reading because I don't update quick enough, then at least SIGN the review so that I can talk to you personally about that instead of writing a ***** comment for everyone to read. **

**Quite honestly, I love my readers, every last one of them. I love my reviewers even more for being honest and patient and taking time out of **_**their**_** busy schedules to talk to **_**me. **_** You guys are the best. But if all you're going to do is threaten to stop reading, then I really don't care if you read or not. It's not worth wasting my time over. The PM's I don't mind at all, and just asking me is fine, but don't be an ass, okay?**

**Sorry about that extra massive author's note about nothing, it's just been a stressful week and that was the icing on the cake. I'm still writing! Everything remains the same! I just needed to vent at someone. **

**I'm usually not this mean. **

**Oh well. ;) And this chapter by no means should support underage drinking. Emmett is an idiot. **

***I'm bored. Let's play Twenty Questions! One question for each update and the best (BE HONEST!) answer(s) get posted with the new question. Got it?**

**Question #1: Name one super strange habit you have.**

**A.) I sing along to the songs I listen to when I'm writing. And if I'm not singing, I'm humming. **


	22. Playing Hooky

My face was pressed into a neck, and I could feel stubble from a chin on my forehead. There was a body that I was lying on, my arm draped over a waist, feet intertwined. There was a big hand in my hair, all wound up and twisted in the strands, and I could feel a chest rising up and down with each breath.

Edward.

Common sense was screaming at me in every language known to man, trying to tell me different ways to escape unscathed.

_Fake sleep!_ It cried. _Run! Jump! Speak! Play dead! Vaminos! Allez!!!_

I ignored them all, choosing to nuzzle into the warm, soft neck. There was a tiny trickle of cool air blowing in from a crack in the window seal that needed to be fixed, and it managed to hit me right on the tip of my nose. At least, it was until my nose was buried into the pleasant flesh.

There was a second hand, resting lightly on the small of my back. It flexed, allowing the fingers to gently push into the material of my dress. He was probably going to wake up soon, and I had no idea what was going to happen when he did.

So I moved my head to rest easier on his shoulder and squeezed my eyes shut. I would just have to deal with it when I woke up.

"Mhmm…" Edward groaned. He started to shift, and I could tell he was probably a minute from complete consciousness, so I milked it and faked slumber.

"Bella?" He asked, raspy and confused a second later. I lifted my head and squinted, trying to pull off a look of deep sleep and confusion. It wasn't working. I probably looked constipated.

"Mmm?" I hummed, noticing that my mouth tasted like rancid soda and dead animal. A toothbrush began to look incredibly attractive, and I made a mental note not to open my mouth.

"Bella?" He asked again, looking down at our entangled bodies in utter confusion.

"Edward?" My voice cracked, and I wondered just exactly how long we had slept like that. I squinted at my clock, not acting this time, and noticed that it was nearly noon.

"Oh God. No. No, no, no, nononono!!! Shit, no!" I swore as I saw the time. I pulled myself up off of Edward a little, into a sitting position. It was then that he seemed to realize that his hands had been on my back and in my hair. He gently unraveled his fingers and stared at them as if they were alien limbs.

"I guess we fell asleep." He muttered, running a hand through his hair. I should have seen if it was really as soft as it looked before he woke up. It would seem a little strange now. _Hey Edward? Your hair looks soft. Can I pet it? Cause I was going to earlier, before you woke up, but your shoulder was too comfortable._

"Edward, it's almost noon." I told him with wide eyes.

"Noon?" He asked uncertaintly.

"Noon. We missed our classes." I said, tasting the words on my tongue. I missed my class. I missed my class. I had a mid-quarter exam the next class, and I missed the last lesson. I had no idea what I missed, and I was pretty sure I couldn't check with Alice. Alice would have woken me up if she was going to be there. We always walked with each other.

"Noon, huh?"

"Noon."

"Well, this sucks."

"Edward, this doesn't just suck. I missed the last class before our mid-term. She hadn't gotten through half the material, and I'm going to fail. I've never failed anything before! And I still haven't finished that stupid project with Jessica Stanley because she talks too much, so we have to go to her place. But when we go over to her place, she talks to her roommate too much. But we can't come over here, because then she talks to you too much. And we can't go to that cute little coffee shop, because I got kicked out last time for yelling at that kid who ruined my shirt."

"I skipped class, and I wasn't even doing anything. I was sleeping. The first time I ever played hooky, and it wasn't intentional. I always told Emmett that if I ever skipped, I'd do something cool, like rob a bank or steal a car, but instead I slept. "

"All I wanted to do was identify some stupid bugs! But no, Jessica Stanley wants to analyze the chemical contents in different shampoos to determine the maximum hydration and color protection! She talks all the time! How does she have time to make that stuff up? Why couldn't she be stupid?"

"Emmett skipped school all the time! He figured out the maximum days you could skip every year and systematically chose to be absent. He had lists and everything! My parents didn't even care, because my parents were hippies! They want us to experience life to the fullest. Hell, carpe diem was written onto our lunch bags every day!"

"My teacher hates me too. He's never liked me. Last week, he took a point off because my paper was illegible. I mean, Rosalie might have accidentally spilled her soda on it, but still!"

"Let's do something. Let's go rob a bank. Carpe diem! Grand theft auto! Seize the day _and_ private property! Let's break the law! Get tattoos and piercings, and have an Emmett shot. We'll skip the entire day!"

"We should skip the rest of today. Go out and do something bad. I mean, we already skipped class. Technically, it's college and no one cares, but still. Let's…let's get tattoos! And piercings! I should dye my hair! We'll take an Emmett shot…and-and-and steal a car! Carpe diem!"

Edward and I looked up from our respective pacing and stared at each other before bursting into laughter.

"Oh my god, we just ranted for like five minutes." I choked out through tears.

"Alice is the only person I ever thought was capable of that much talking." He responded with gasping breaths.

"Seriously though, let's go see a movie or something. The only other class I've got today is Intro to American Poets." I recommended as I wiped off my eyes.

"No."

"No?" I asked incredulously. "You really want to go to class?"

"No. I meant a no to the movies. I figure, if we're going to hell, we might as well do it thoroughly." Edward mused.

"So you want to steal a car and go get drunk?" I snorted, however unladylike it may appear.

"How about…we take the Volvo." He suggested.

"That's a great idea Edward. In the city teeming with cabs, lets take your own expensive car to get completely drunk so we can later attempt to drive and cause as much wreckage as possible." I rolled my eyes. _Men._

"We're taking the Volvo." He decided before springing into action. Before I could even blink, he was up and rummaging through his set of drawers for clothes. He had his shirt over his head and his watch on before he even shut the door, calling out muffled orders to get dressed. I rolled my eyes and did as he told, stripping as quickly as possible in case he walked out too fast. Thankfully I wasn't rooming with Emmett, so there was a polite knock before a body came toppling out of the door.

I brushed my teeth as fast as possible, ignoring the tapping of Edward's feet against the tile.

"What?" I snapped as I turned around to find him holding out my coat and two mismatched shoes. "Edward, I haven't even brushed my hair."

"But I want to go now," He pouted, looking a whole heck of a lot like Alice.

"Getting ourselves drunk does not seem that exciting." I said as I yanked a brush through my hair.

"Well, no…but getting a tattoo does."

**Music Listened To****:**

**Basically anything and everything James Morrison has ever released. I have a talent crush on him. Jon McLaughlin and Aqualung would also fall under this category. **

**So we've got some OCD keyboard cleaners, people who talk to themselves (some with tape covering their mouth), people who sleep with their eyes open, Ranch dressing kleptos, ice cream blowers, and people afraid of bathrooms. But the best one of all is RingTheBella, who eats toast in a peculiar way:**

"**When I eat toast, I always have 2 pieces: one with light margarine and grape jelly…the other with peanut butter, some mini-chocolate chips, and a light sprinkling of garlic salt."**

**:D**

**Question #2: One word limit this time, people! We're talking the first thing that pops into your head. BE HONEST! **

**Someone burps. Your reaction?**

**A.) ORANGE!!! **


	23. Sketch 'N Etch

**ATTN: Need beta ASAP. Check my profile for more info. :)**

"What about a pirate?"

"What _about_ a pirate?" We were sitting in his car, not speaking. The interior was charged with adrenaline and nervous tension as we drove down to the recommended tattoo parlor. Emmett had gone there for his tattoo, and it was the most hygienic place we had heard of.

"Y'know…maybe on my shoulder…" He mused as he drove.

"Edward, you don't like pirates." I reminded him. I still couldn't believe that I was getting a tattoo. Part of me felt BA…and the other part was worrying over what Charlie would think. There were only two things he didn't like, and getting a tattoo was one of them.

"What _are_ you going to get?" I asked curiously after another awkward silence.

"I…I, uh…I don't know." He stammered nervously as he ran a free hand through his hair. "How bout you?"

I shrugged my shoulders and he nodded. We maintained the awkward silence until we parked in front of a relatively clean looking building a few minutes away from most of the noisy hustle and bustle of New York City.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked as he turned in his seat to look me straight in the eye.

I took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly, before I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door.

"Let's do this."

I marched towards the door, listening for the sounds of the car locking and Edward's footsteps as he hurried to catch up. The handle was freezing, in an ominous, doctor's office sort of way, but I took the plunge and burst through the door.

There was an innocent bell noise as the door swung open that seemed vastly different than the surrounding environment. The parlor was resoundingly empty, save for a pale woman sitting at the front desk.

Her most prominent feature was the swirling design in deep purple printed over her left shoulder and collarbone, showcased by the strapless dress she was wearing. Her auburn hair swirled in thick, wild curls around her head and her delicate features gave her the look of someone much younger than her real age.

She eyed us warily, and I noticed her shockingly violet eyes. They could have only been achieved through contacts, but I was still surprised by how closely they matched her facial features, as if they were natural.

"I'll be back in ten with Aro." She said in a smooth, clipped tone before waltzing off towards the back. Her departure gave me opportunity to look around at the walls, and I finally noticed.

Every square inch of the wall space, excluding the wall with the reception desk, was covered in picture frames. While there were several still empty, most were filled with photographs of tattoos. Each one was different, though they all looked matching, in a strange sort of way.

"It's the same artist…" I breathed quietly as I realized the connection.

"Who's Aro?" Edward asked, matching my tone. There was an air of elegance here that begged reverence, starkly contrasting the grisly artwork around the desk. The entire place equally dark and thrilling, like a horror movie that hid suspense around every corner.

"Maybe he's the artist." I answered as I touched the image of a face in abstract embedded on someone's arm.

We lost ourselves in the art quickly. It was like being in an art gallery or a library, surrounded by culture and beauty and not being able to soak it up quick enough. I soon became entranced with a section of words, all foreign in language, but beautifully printed. Edward was on the opposite side, staring at more abstract, artsy swirls and dots.

"Misterioso bellezza, what can I help you with?" I jumped at the sound of another person and abruptly turned around to face the man. He was an average height, but very slight and withered. His features made him look 20, while his body language made him look 50. I decided quickly that he was an enigma, especially with his snowy white, shoulder length hair and deep blue eyes.

"My girlfriend and I would like to get tattoo's." Edward spoke up as he came over behind me and rested his hand on my lower back. I shot him a look, which he returned pleadingly. I decided to go along with it and make him explain later.

"Ah. May I ask your names?" He had a thick Italian accent that cloaked his voice, though his milky white skin contrasted with the heritage.

"I'm Edward, and this is Bella." He said, extending a hand. The man shook it quickly before taking my hand and placing a kiss on it. Quite honestly, the feeling of his cracked and dry lips on my hand was giving me the creeps, but I put on a brave face.

"Fitting," he murmured. "I am Aro, the artist. I have to ask up front how much time you have invested this afternoon. I like to individualize every piece of artwork, and there's really not a specific time limit."

"We have all afternoon," I declared.

"Excellent." His lips parted to show sparkling white teeth in a slightly menacing smile. "Will the lady be going first then?"

"I will." Edward interrupted. "Can she watch?"

"But of course. I will go ready a room." He glided off towards a set of doorways and entered into the first room.

"What is up with you?" I hissed as I abruptly turned around.

"Look, I don't trust that guy. He just has a weird vibe and-"

"And what? You're going to stop him before he tries to drink my blood? He's strange, but he's talented. I'm still getting a tattoo." I told him angrily.

"I never said you weren't. Just let me go first." I stared him down for a moment, glaring into his innocent looking eyes.

"Fine. But this whole overbearing thing needs to stop. I just don't get you sometimes." I told him sternly. He nodded eagerly, clearly happy that he had won out.

"If you're ready…" Aro called out from a room. I followed his voice into one of the little rooms to the side of the shop, covered with gauzy, flowing material rather than doors. Our room clearly had a splatter paint theme, as it was absolutely covered in hundreds of different colors.

"I took the liberty of making a few sketches. Just things that came to mind…" He handed each of us a stack of papers with drawings, more intricate after five minutes than I could have done with five hours.

Mine were all beautiful. A tulip, twisting delicately into a B. A field of wildflowers at twilight. But my favorite was the elegantly coiled letters, intertwined to form a word I didn't understand.

"Aro? What does this one mean?" I asked quietly as I traced over the letters.

"Spes? That is the Latin word for hope." He didn't look up from his cleaning off his materials.

"I want this one." I announced.

"Wonderful. And you?" He nodded to Edward, who pointed out a design I couldn't make out.

"I had imagined this above a shoulder blade…if that is alright?" Aro asked as he gauged Edward's response. Edward nodded, and we proceeded to get a lecture about exactly what we could and couldn't do post tattoo until the skin could heal. Our ID's were checked and we paid beforehand so that we could leave as soon as we were done.

Edward stripped off his shirt, and I remained admirably composed, before lying down onto a bench and getting alcohol swabbed all over his right shoulder. I took his shirt and held it with our bundle of coats in my hands as I sunk down next to the bench. I leaned up against the wall and tucked my knees into my chest, letting my head rest on the bench near Edward's head.

I could tell Aro had started only by the buzzing noise and the sound of Edward breathing out slowly. I looked up at him and gave him a tentative smile, which he returned weakly.

Before I knew it, Aro was asking to take a picture and bandaging up his shoulder. I caught a glimpse of the image before the white gauze covered it and gasped. It was a golden lion, fantastically realistic and terrifying. Its mane flowed out over most of it's body, and it looked as if it would leap off of Edward's shoulder and tear everyone to pieces.

"And where will yours be, little one?" Aro asked. "The top of your shoulder, perhaps?"

I nodded, unable to speak, and licked my dry lips anxiously. The sooner this was over, the better.

The rest of the visit was an out of body experience. I watched as Brave Bella stripped off the modest long-sleeved shirt she was wearing and slid the straps of the thin white tank top off , exposing her shoulders. She turned and showed Aro her left shoulder. I couldn't feel it, but she flinched back from the cold alcohol swab. She put on a brave face as she lay on the bench and ignored the pain in her shoulder.

"Sure," was her response as Aro asked for a picture. I watched in morbid fascination as the tender skin was wiped off, making a face at the blood left on the cloth.

I seemed to float back into my body as I felt a stinging sensation take place in on my left side when Edward helped to slide my coat on gently.

The next thing I knew, Edward was starting the car and I was staring out the window at the lonely building.

"I can't believe we actually did it…" I mused as I rolled my shoulder gingerly.

"No kidding," He repeated.

I looked over at him with a huge grin on face until he looked back at me.

"What?" He asked, smiling in spite of himself.

"Thanks." I said.

"Anytime," he answered. It wasn't until we were halfway back to school that I realized that Alice was going to kill me. That's when it when from empowering…to freaking hilarious.

**So I guess it's time for me to explain, huh? That my friends, is the Color Game. Whenever someone burps, everyone (yes, including the burper) has to say a color. Last person has to make a…noise. Let's just leave it at that. ;)**

**Popular ones?**

**Dinosaurs (why?), Eww, Gross, Pardon, Lovely, Laughs, Silence, Pickles (again, what?), Pig/Swine, and Meatloaf (um…)**

**MeghanCullen wins though, cause she answered with pink. Then again, that's sort of cheating because we play this game all the time. Either way, let's move on!**

**Question #3: Where would you get a tattoo and what would it be? **

**A.) Something on my foot, near my pinky toes. Probably a peace symbol or heart. Maybe the word folle (French for crazy) or paix (French for peace). **

**By now it's probably obvious that my other stories are on hold until this one is done. Race will probably be finished by the time this one is, and then a poll will go up to decide which new story y'all want to hear next. Oh, and there's probably ten-ish chapter's left. Maybe less, maybe more. **


	24. Winter Wonderland

***Sorry about the problems, they're all fixed now.***

"So you and Edward just left? Just like that?" Rosalie verified.

"Just like that." Rosalie and Alice demanded that we head out for some "bonding" that Friday. Apparently, running off when I was supposed to be in school was "worrisome,", and they were afraid that they "didn't know me anymore.". Where was I when my friends became my parents?

"So what ended up happening with Euro?" Alice asked. We had all been super busy for the rest of the week, and the only other time I saw her was when we stumbled out of the room after our European History mid-term.

"Ugh, I had to con this kid named Eric Yorkie into tutoring me all afternoon the day before – four hours of European History,." I moaned.

"You poor thing," Alice gasped. "You do realize that you picked the one kid in the entire class who has been stalking you all semester?"

"He's not that bad. He was nice, and he helped me. Sure, he needed a shower and some Clearasil, but I can't hold that against him." I couldn't be too hard on him. He did help me out when I really needed it.

"I though you said that he tried to kiss you?" Rosalie asked as she looked through a rack of jeans.

"Yeah, but it was just on the cheek," I protested weakly. "I know that he's nerdy and a little gross looking, but he means well."

"Really? Cause I think he just wants to get in your pants,." Rose muttered as she sauntered over to a nearby rack of shirts.

I stuck my tongue out at her, which she returned with a scrunch of her nose.

"At least you're _mature_ about it," she said sarcastically.

"Ooh! Guys, look what just opened up!" Alice squealed as she dropped the blouse in her hands to gesture towards a shop across the street.

"_Prom _dresses?" Rosalie asked skeptically raising one eyebrow.

"Ha," I snorted. "I faked a broken ankle to convince everyone I didn't want to go to prom."

"Bel-luh!"

"Al-ice!" I mocked.

"Bella, prom was so much fun! Why wouldn't you want to dress up and have fun with your friends?" Alice asked.

"Alice, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly the dancing type. I don't do well with attention, either. I'd probably be the one who accidentally dumps the punch bowl on the prom queen because she tripped over her date's foot," I explained with a shudder.

"Well then, we definitely have to go in to that store," Alice declared.

"Alice, I've seen enough cheesy prom dresses to last me a lifetime –"

"C'mon, Rose, you know that's half the fun! Please? I just want to have fun with you guys…" Alice was a world-champion pouter. She had this little puppy face down pat that could melt glaciers.

"Ugh, fine. But you owe me big time,." Rose sighed as she threw the jeans she was looking at back on the rack. Alice squealed excitedly and scooped the two of us up in a big hug.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she gushed. I saw Rosalie rolling her eyes as she broke out of the hug. Alice and linked her arms with ours and pulled us out the door.

"You do realize we're still having Takeout Night, right?" Rosalie reminded us. "We're coming over late and bothering that pizza place again."

"With that guy who can't speak English? I love that place!" Alice exclaimed.

"They hate us so much," Rosalie crowed gleefully.

As we neared the store, I could tell that nothing good would come from it. Taffeta in every shade of neon imaginable seemed to permeate the surrounding air, and there was a girl crying about sizes in front of the store. Men instinctively knew to cross to the other side of the street in an attempt to stay as far away from the store as possible, as if the insanity was contagious.

"It gets worse," Rosalie muttered in my ear, giving me a sympathetic look. "This is why I let Alice pick my dress."

"Alright guys, we need a plan,." Alice commanded, rubbing her hands together as we entered the store. "First we need to stake a claim in at least one dressing room, if not two. Two is preferable, but they must be side by side. We are not a pair in the middle of the rooms, either. Off to an the end of the changing area. Got it?"

"Yes, General Patton, sir!" I mock-saluted her as I stumbled through the hordes of people.

"Back off, woman! Prom isn't until at least April,." Rosalie hissed at some poor girl who ran into her.

With a determined look, the girl stiffened and stared Rosalie down.

"For your information, the Winter Wonderland Dance is in a month."

Oh my God!, I had never seen Rosalie so pissed off. She looked like one of those mother bears in the nature videos when her cub gets threatened, only with blonde hair and a wicked mouth.

"Well than, that'll give you plenty of time to clear up that acne, won't it sweetie?" she simpered with her hip popped, her arms crossed, and her hair flipped over one shoulder.

Alice and I were standing off to the side, trapped in between being caught in the suspense and rolling on the floor in laughter.

The other girl flushed and gave her one last ferocious glare before running off in the opposite direction in tears.

Alice let a smile pass over her face for a brief second before pressing on through the mayhem to the fitting rooms. I, however, found myself torn between stifling my giggles and feeling sorry for the poor girl. Rosalie was a force to be reckoned with in the best of times, much less when she was already on edge.

"Rosalie, was that really necessary?" I asked once I could actually speak.

"She needed to be taught a lesson,." sShe replied offhandedly as we wandered towawrd in the general direction of Alice. Unfortunately, when I finally found her, I wished I hadn't.

"Oh my _God_, Alice," I moaned. She had managed to single-handedly barricade off two little rooms with chairs, and was busy running from the racks to the rooms with handfuls of dresses.

"Hurry!" she squeaked from underneath a pile of crimson gowns. "Get into the room with the blues, purples, and reds. Rose, you're with the reds, blacks, and greens."

She stuffed the last set of dresses into a little room before pulling Rosalie into the room and sliding the curtain shut. "Off the shoulder first, in green."

"Strapless, low back, in blue," Alice commanded as she shoved me into the other little room and shut the curtain.

I slipped off my pants, silently thanking the gods that I followed Alice's instructions and had woren the strapless bra. I pulled off my shirt and sifted through the pile of blues, looking for the gown.

It was beautiful, and surprisingly comfortable. It was silky, though the bodice was closer more like a corset than anything. The skirt seemed to float out at the bottom, giving the appearance that I was gliding across the floor.

"Hair up, Bella. I want to see the way it looks ion the back. And hurry up!" Alice instructed.

Under orders, I pulled my hair into a sloppy pile on my head and turned around. The back was incredibly low, hitting me somewhere between the small of my back and the end of my ribs. It made me feel…beautiful. Kind of mysterious and glamorous and, dare I say it…sexy.

"Bella? Rose and I are waiting!" Alice's impatient voice caused my eyes to travel up to a loose tendril that I tucked it in before realizing a detail I still hadn't revealed.

"Oh shit…," I breathed. It's a good thing my tattoo said hope…I was going to need it.

"Bella!" Rose was using the same warning voice she had used with the "Winter Wonderland" girl, and I knew the moment of truth had arrived. I took a deep breath and marched out the door.

"Oh, you look stunning!" Alice cooed. Rosalie smiled encouragingly and repeated the praise, all decked out in some floaty, gypsy-esque, green dress. I was too nervous to respond.

"Turn, turn! I want to see the back!" Alice said. I sucked in another shuddering breath and slowly turned.

The collective gasps I heard were enough to change my mind. "So I'll go try on that one in purple –"

"ISABELLA MARIE!" Alice bellowed. Thankfully, the store was noisy and no one noticed. Once again, I thanked the gods for Alice for putting us in the back. "There's something on your back that sure as hell looks like a tattoo!"

"Uhm…it means hope?" I said uncertainly.

"When did you get it?" Alice demanded. Rose stood behind me, poking and prodding at the spot where the ink was.

"Tuesday?" I was driving myself nuts with the hesitancy.

"When you were with _Edward? He_ let you get a tattoo?" Alice asked incredulously.

"Well, he got one too –"

"WHAT!" Sshe roared, sounding a lot like Emmett. "Rosalie, get your clothes. We're going."

Rosalie opened her mouth to retort, but snapped it shut at the feral look in Alice's eyes and scuttled into the dressing rooms. She grabbed our clothes and followed Alice as she dragged me to the front of the store.

"We will be wearing these out,." Alice informed the sales clerk at the counter as she thrust a thin black card towards her.

"Alice, can't we just change? We're going to look ridiculous –"

"Now,." sShe hissed at me as she took the card back.

"C-come a-a-again soon," the sales clerk stuttered as we left the store.

**AIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! GUESS WHAT?!? DORM DILEMMA WAS NOMINATED FOR BEST INCOMPLETE ALL HUMAN TWILIGHT FANFICTION!!! ****Kay, I'm done with all caps now. *whew* But seriously, I'm pumped. My first nomination ever! PLEASE, please, pLeaSe, puh-leaze go check out the website [ twilightallhumanawards (dot) webs (dot) com] and nominate/vote for some other stories you've been loving. Please? **

**Anyway, we've got lots of flowers, crosses, and sunsets. Happy faces, hearts, and peace signs were also winners. There were a few creatures, like fairies or bumblebees, and there were also several music notes. The coolest, in my opinion, were the Ankh symbol (apparently, it's ancient Egyptian for life), and the words Que Sera Sera (either Latin or French for what will be will be). Thanks for those reviews from ****xoIts Just MExo and ****Delaware forever. ****CalebIsMyEdwardAndImHisBella gets a special shout out for the weirdest one, with a tattoo of the word mustache on the index finger so when you hold it up to your face, you automatically get a mustache. :)**

**And in other news, I've got a beta! Woohoo! Thank you to everyone who showed interest. I definitely appreciate each and every single one of you, but I had to pick the best fit for me… thanks to SavageWoman for helping to sort through this muddled mess. **

**Uhm…oh yeah. Question. Hmm…current favorite song?**

**Come Home by One Republic feat. Sara Bareilles. I listen to it on repeat all the time, and it's made me forgive One Republic for Apologize. **


	25. Insanity Runs In The Family

***Just another apology for the technical problems last chapter. I didn't save it right, so I had to go back and attempt to fix it on fanfic, which was no fun. It won't happen again.***

We marched back to the Volvo in silence. Alice had left her car back with her parents as some sort of spending money compromise, and Edward had kindly let us borrow his precious car while he, Emmett, and Jasper were having a boys day in.

The ride was incredibly awkward, to say the least. Once we were in the car, Rosalie burst into laughter, and gradually it faded to the occasional hiccup. Alice was driving like a madwoman, while shooting glares at me in the rearview mirror.

After Alice screeched to a halt in the college parking lot, she pulled me out of the car by my wrist, which was starting to get incredibly red. Wild tendrils of hair floated around and tickled my face as a light breeze tugged some of my tresses free from its bun. Rosalie finally sobered up when people began giving her strange looks.

"Where are they?" Alice spat.

"Your room has the X Box…," Rosalie muttered sullenly as she half-heartedly glared at a gawking boy.

Alice nodded stiffly at Rosalie, and we pressed onward. I'm sure we looked peculiar, with little Alice in heels and a sundress dragging someone five inches taller than her in a prom dress and a sullen gypsy trudging behind.

We finally arrived at the room, and Alice wasted no time in plunging a hand into her mammoth purse, producing her key. With more force than I thought possible, she jammed the key into the door and turned the lock.

When the door finally swung open, it was clear that we were interrupting a heated battle. Jasper sat upside down on a chair with his feet over the back and his back on the seat, his face screwed up in concentration. Emmett bounced around on the balls of his feet, bellowing expletives at the television, while Edward lay on the ground with his tongue hanging out in concentration. They didn't even notice our presence.

Alice finally released her death grip on my wrist and marched determinedly over to the outlet, pulling out the cords that connected the game box and TV.

"What the… Alice! I was five points away from my high score!" Emmett bellowed. Jasper blinked in confusion, and Edward furrowed his brow as he stared at the blank screen.

"Where is it, Bella?" Alice demanded as she surveyed the scene.

"Same spot, opposite side," I told her weakly, telepathically screaming at Edward to run as fast as possible.

_Damn Edward for not being able to read minds._

Alice promptly waded through the tangled mess of game cords and food wrappers and pulled Edward up by his ear.

"Ow! What the hell-OW! Alice!" Edward complained as he scrambled awkwardly to his feet.

Alice was much shorter than Edward, so instead of just pulling up his shirt to see the tattoo, she decided to pull the whole thing off.

"OW! Alice, your nails are like daggers-Jesus, Al! OW!" Edward howled as Alice all but crawled up his back to remove his shirt. She didn't stop until she could see his entire back. However, because she never actually bothered to take his shirt off completely, he was stuck with it covering his head while his arms just kind of flopped around awkwardly. Even with his shirt covering his wonderful face, his beautiful abs and muscular back gave me plenty to admire. I staggered my staring because any longer than 5 seconds and I would start to blush.

_Damn Edward and his sexybility. _

"Way to go man! You finally grew a pair!" Emmett applauded when he saw the lion. "Wait…that is real, right?"

"Yes Emmett, it is real," Alice hissed angrily as she whirled around to face him. "Bella has one too."

"Bella?" Emmett repeated. You could tell that this was not processing properly in his brain, and it was frustrating Alice to no end.

"This is why they shouldn't play video games," muttered Alice as she came to my side.

"Why are you wearing a prom dress?" Emmett asked in confusion. "You look nice…but it's October. We're in college. We don't have prom…"

Alice glared at him and wordlessly spun me around. "Emmett. Tattoo."

"Huh. Wait, what does spes mean? Aren't those the candies that come out of the character's heads?" Emmett wondered.

"No, I think those are Pez," Jasper added, still sitting upside down. His face was growing progressively redder as the blood flow to his head increased, and his voice sounded strange and warped as it floated up.

"Oh man, I love those things!" Emmett exclaimed. "I had this Snoopy one that was _so cool_! But then Alice got mad and threw it out the window…huh…um, Al? Ally dear? That look is sickeningly familiar…"

Alice's face was all screwed up, her little button nose scrunched, and her eyes all squinted as she glared whole-heartedly at her brother. You could all but feel the heat radiating from her little body, and her fists clenched so tight that they were pale white.

"Does _anyone_ care that we may not even know Edward and Bella anymore?" Alice growled quietly, fear more obvious than anger.

"Alice, it's just a tattoo-"

"They lied to us!" Alice exclaimed, cutting off the formerly silent Rosalie. "They skipped school, got tattoos, and lied to us about the whole thing!"

"Alice, we told you! It wasn't an intentional thing at first, it just snowballed!" Edward interrupted tiredly, his voice muffled by the fabric of his t-shirt and the flesh of his left arm.

"But you were afraid to tell us! You hid the tattoos until now! Who's to say that you would have _ever_ told us!" Alice retorted angrily.

"Alice, we would have told you guys. We just didn't think it was that big a deal," I explained.

"How would this not be a big deal? You both did something completely out of character! You were irresponsible, and reckless, and-"

"And that was the point! We wanted to be out of character for a little bit! And quite honestly, it's none of your business!" Edward shouted his anger less intimidating given his current state.

"I want it to be," Alice replied in a small voice. I did a double take, surprised at her abrupt mood swing. "I'm your sister, for God sake. All of us are family, unofficially. I can see it happening. I don't want to lose any part of that happiness."

"Aw, Alice, we're not going to join a motorcycle gang or anything. We just needed to be someone else for a little while," I explained as I wrapped her in a hug.

"Yeah, Al, I've got a tattoo but I'm still here!" Emmett added as he wriggled his way to the middle of the hug.

Jasper stared quizzically at our strange little trio for a moment before tumbling out of his chair and happily shouting, "Group hug!"

Jasper enveloped Alice's tiny frame while successfully managing to elbow Emmett in the gut, and Rosalie sighed before falling to peer pressure and joining in.

After a moment of peaceful silence, Edward's voice cut through. "Is anyone going to help me out?"

**Thanks again to the ever-wonderful SavageWoman for fixing all the things I didn't even think of. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional, from jlm8808; you won me over because one, it was a great song, and two, I am a hopeless romantic like you wouldn't believe. But there were so many other great recommendations out there! I've got a list about as long as my arm (which, while long enough to snag the jar of peanut butter from the top shelf is really not that long) of some fabulous music, so if you want to know those, just ask and I can send them your way. **

**Question: Of the people who follow people on YouTube (if that even makes sense), who is your favorite?**

**Answer: EvilIguanaProduction, hands down. I found them because of their Twilight Trailer Spoof, and fell in love with them for The Allen and Craig Show. If you haven't seen either one of those, go watch them now. They're hilarious. **

**Oh, and I figured an explanation for why this is late-ish would be good. Basically, this chapter was three-fourths of the way done when my laptop pulled a suicide mission and heroically leapt off a desk. The screen shattered. It was horrific. After about two weeks, I managed to find and purchase a new laptop, and now two more weeks later I've got the Windows Suite on it. So I'm all squared away now, but if someone could tell me how to get these annoying corner edging things off my document, it'd be much appreciated. **


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